


Hidden Basement

by sizzlingpotatogod



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: Implied Relationships, JEVIL IS HARDCORE GAY FOR SEAM, Jevil never confessed to Seam, Lancer is a bit of a brat cuz he's younger, Lancer is an innocent lil puppy tho, M/M, Other, Pre-Canon, Spades is just an abusive prick, This assumes Gaster is the knight
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2019-10-24 06:56:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17699729
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sizzlingpotatogod/pseuds/sizzlingpotatogod
Summary: Lancer's 10th birthday is a couple of weeks away, and he discovers a strange little clown underneath his home.





	1. Mysterious Button

Whenever it came to Lancer traversing his castle, there was always someone with him, mainly his “Lesser Dad”; but there was always the occasional guard, or in some rare cases, his father. It was a typical day for the young prince, he just finished his breakfast and he was on his way to practice his magic in the training area. He and Rouxls Kaard boarded an elevator, Lancer standing in the corner and his Lesser Dad choosing the correct floor. Lancer tried to peek at the button panel, but Rouxls stood in front of it.  
Lancer sighed, “Why do you always have to follow me around everywhere, Rouxls?” 

Kaard furrowed his brow, but kept his frustration to himself, “I doth not followst thee around everywhere thine majesty. I only escorteth thou through the castle.” 

Lancer exhaled angrily, crossing his arms, “I'm going to turn ten soon, Lesser Dad! Can't you guys trust me walking around in my own home?” 

Rouxls tried to keep his composure, forcing himself to relax a bit, “I knowest, thou majesty. Thine Father and I spoke about it, but we shant tell you he conclusion we had reachst.” 

Lancer groaned loudly, “And why not..?!”

Kaard squatted down to eye level, “Spoilers, thine majesty.” 

The elevator stopped and opened up to their desired floor, “And here we art!” Kaard stood up and made the agitated prince walk in front of him. Lancer couldn't help but try to glance at the buttons, but Rouxls blocked his vision before he could see all of them. Lancer grumbled a bit, walking ahead of his Lesser Dad. They entered the Training Halls, the Spade King waiting for them. 

Spades puffed in annoyance, “And why are you so upset, Lancer?” 

Rouxls walked over and placed his hand on the child's shoulder before he could speak, “He's upseteth because I won't tellst him the Conclusione we reached.”

“Ah,” King muttered, “well that doesn't justify anything, Lancer.” Lancer tensed up a bit, trying to get rid of the scowl on his face. 

“Oh stand up straight, will you!” Spade ordered. Lancer yelped a bit in fear, standing straight and forcing an evil smile. 

Spades rolled his eyes, unimpressed, “At least that was somewhat of an improvement.”

Lancer didn't realize it was an insult, and took it as a compliment, “Thanks, Father!” 

Spade King shook his head slightly, “Whatever.” 

He summoned several spades in the air, all aimed toward his son, “Let's continue with your training, shall we?” Lancer nodded, getting ready to dodge the attacks. About two hours passed of Lancer rolling and running out of the way of attacks, throwing smaller spades at his father's attacks. He got hit occasionally, but that didn't deter his father. They finally got finished, King desummoning all of his attacks and his second tongue getting pulled back into his stomach-mouth. Rouxls made his way to the prince and healed his wounds. Spade King walk passed them and purposely knocked his shoulder against Rouxls, throwing him off balance, “Go and feed the brat.” Lancer frowned a bit, looking up at Rouxls. 

Kaard composed himself, adjusting his shirt, “Yes, thine majesty.” 

Lancer stared at the ground, “Lesser Dad?” 

Rouxls heaved at the stupid nickname, “What is it, Lancer?” 

“Why is Father so...Angry at me all the time?” Lancer whined. 

Kaard's heart sank and he knelt down, “Well..” He didn't know how to start off this explanation. Lancer looked up a him, lip quivering. 

Rouxls cringed out of pity for the poor prince, “Lancer, thou shant let such harsh words hurt you. Perhaps...Thine Father cannot articulate his feelings too well. Maybe that is why he is always so angry with everyone.” 

Lancer stood up a bit, “Really?” 

Rouxls held up his hand, “I cannot say for certain, 'tis just a theory of mine.”

Lancer rubbed his nose, grinning a bit, “Yeah. Alright, I'll believe you.” 

Rouxls smiled in relief, standing back up, “Let us go.” 

They left the room and got on one of the elevator. They stood in their places and Rouxls pressed the button to the third floor. This time Kaard wasn't standing directly in front of the panel, and Lancer took the chance to look at all the buttons. He quickly scanned all of them, looking at all the numbers beside them. 

He glanced at a very particular one, the one at the very bottom that had the number scratched out, “Huh?” The elevator came to a halt and the doors opened up, “How abouteth worms for lunch?”  
Lancer went to ask about the peculiar button, but Rouxls immediately realized his mistake. He gasped in surprise, putting his hand behind Lancer's back and pushing him out of the elevator. “Hey!” Lancer cried out, trying to look at it once more. The doors closed and Rouxls glared down at the prince.  
“Why was that button all messed up?” Lancer asked. 

Rouxls turned his head away, grimacing, “To my Shope!” 

Lancer tried to question him once more, but Kaard gripped his arm and practically dragged him into his little store. 

“Come on, Lesser Dad! Please tell me.” The small prince begged. 

Rouxls covered his own mouth, turning away. He shook his head frantically, refusing to answer his question. 

Lancer hugged onto his leg, pouting and looking up at the distressed man, “Come on!”  
“Lancer, release mine leg!” Rouxls demanded. 

Lancer began to chirp loudly like a bird, much to Rouxls's despair. The Duke reached over and snatched a jar of worms off of a shelf, desperately pulling the lid off. He gripped a fistful of worms and pulled them out of the jar. Shoving the worms in the annoying prince's mouth, he yelled “Eat!” Lancer's loud tweets were silenced as he chewed on the worms. 

Rouxls was worried about this possibility, now that the prince knows about this mysterious hidden floor, he knew that he won't stop questioning it. Lancer released Kaard's leg, sitting on the ground. 

Lancer swallowed, then asked, “Why won't you tell me what that button is for?” 

Rouxls rubbed his face, leaning against the wall, “Because I am forbidden to, thine majesty. Now stop asking those questions, you aren't going to get an answere!” Lancer stared at the ground, trying to think of something to say. 

“How about thou go and scout the nearby area and searcheth for Lightners?” 

Lancer decided to give up for now, getting off of the ground, “Fine.” 

Rouxls led him to the castle exit and the troubled prince trudged off. Several hours passed from Lancer walking around, trying to think of what could be in that hidden floor. It was getting darker, and he made his way back home for dinner. 

He sat down at the dining table, servants setting silver platters in front of his father and himself. Lancer received chicken fingers, tater-tots and milk, while his father got steak, corn, a baked potato and some wine. Lancer was still focused on the thought of what could be below the prison. 

Spade cleared his throat loudly, catching the attention of his son, “What is the matter?” 

“Huh? Oh, uh, just thinking,” Lancer mumbled. 

“How can I hear you when you're mumbling!” Spades barked. 

Lancer jumped in surprise, straightening himself up, “I said I'm just thinking.” 

“About?” Spade grumbled. 

Lancer sweated a bit, scarfing down a chicken tender. He shook his head in a panic, pointing to his mouth. His Father sighed, stroking his snout in dissatisfaction. Lancer frowned, but still tried to remain optimistic. They ate dinner in silence, Spades completely giving up on his son for the night. Lancer got off his chair when he finished dinner and ran off. 

He prepared himself for the night and hopped into bed. He stared up at the ceiling, thinking about the button. He removed his hood, his ears twitching a bit. Rolling onto his side, and shutting his eyes tight, he tried to get his mind off of the topic. He tossed and turned all night, incredibly restless and he just couldn't stop his wandering mind. 

Lancer somehow made it through the night and woke up early next morning. He sat up, rubbing his eyes and yawning. His fur was a mess, his back felt stiff, and he was still exhausted. He got out of bed and grabbed his blue hood. He dragged himself to the bathroom and brushed his fur and teeth. Lancer strolled to the dining halls and took a seat. He waited for his father to show up for a little while, but he didn't.

He tapped his fingers on the table impatiently, looking around the room. “Hey! Rudinn! What time is it?” he shouted at a guard. 

“Uh, it's about 5:30 am, your highness.” he answered. Lancer blinked a bit, looking up at the clock. 

“Oh,” he muttered, “guess I woke up a little too early.” Lancer perked up, a mischievous little scheme coming to mind. 

He turned to the guards and pointed them, “Hey you guys! Don't you move a muscle.” 

The two Rudinn guards exchanged looks, then turned back to the prince, “Uh, okay I guess.” Lancer smiled widely, running out of the room and down the hallways.

He made it to Floor 1F, a few Rudinn Rangers pacing about the area or just standing around guarding. Lancer slowed down, he wasn't expecting them to be here. He took a deep breath and sighed, trying his best to calm down. He walked forward, daydreaming about going down to the hidden floor. The Rangers greeted him, but Lancer just ignored them. Almost there! He thought to himself, Just a few more steps and then I'll be home free-! He was stopped, “Hey, um, your majesty?” Lancer stopped dead in his tracks, just right in front of the elevator. 

Some of the Rudinn Rangers slithered forth, “Where are you going?” 

Beads of sweat dripped down his face, “Uh, to the elevator.” 

“Oh, well one of us will take you where you need to go,” One of the Rudinn Rangers said. 

Lancer whined a bit, staring at the elevator doors, “You don't need to, I can go by myself.” 

Another one of the Rudinn Rangers spoke up, “Prince Lancer? You know you're not allowed to ride the elevator by yourself, right?” 

Lancer sighed, bowing his head in defeat, “Yeah, I know.” 

Another Rudinn Ranger slithered over, “Prince? Why are you up so early?” 

Lancer sighed melodramatically, “I just couldn't sleep well last night!” 

A Head Hathy pushed her away through the crowd, “What's going on here?” The Rudinn Rangers pointed to Lancer. 

She gasped slightly, “Your majesty? Why are you up so early?” 

“He said he had a nightmare or something,” one of the Rangers explained.

“A nightmare?” she hissed.

“I didn't have a nightmare! I just couldn't sleep last night,” Lancer cried out, “and I'm not tired enough to go back to bed.” 

The Head Hathy strolled over to Lancer, “Well the chefs will start cooking in about the next half hour or longer. Would you like some entertainment to pass the time?” 

Lancer didn't have a choice in the matter, so he shrugged his shoulders, “Okay, fine.” 

The Head Hathy led him upstairs and into an elevator. After a minute of traveling through the castle, they made it to the Throne Room. Lancer sat in front of his Father's throne and waited. 

A few moments of expecting entertainers later, the paper doll dancers entered. Lancer stopped picking at the ground and sat up. The paper dolls twirled and spun around the room, all singing a pleasant little song. Lancer relaxed, allowing the hypnotizing dance of theirs to ease his mind. Lancer hummed along to the tune, swaying left to right. All happiness was interrupted by a deafening blow to the wall that caused the ground to shake. Everyone froze in fear, staring at the source. 

King snarled lowly, “What is the meaning of this?!” He pulled his hand away from the fresh hole in the wall, glaring daggers at everyone.

Lancer got up hastily, adjusting his hoodie, “Father! I wasn't expecting you to get up so soon.” 

“All of this damn noise woke me up, son,” he growled, “Now why are you up?”

Lancer stuttered a bit, “I-I uh...I just couldn't-” 

“Stop stammering, for God's sake!” he roared. 

Lancer clenched his fists, attempting to remain calm, “I...Didn't sleep too good last night, and I woke up early.” 

Spade King paused for a second, then huffed angrily, “Whatever.”

He turned and left the room, “The chefs better be preparing breakfast for me! I'm starving!” Lancer followed a little ways behind him, the stress of the situation slowly piling back onto his shoulders. Fortunately for everyone, the chefs caught word of the king and prince being awake and begun making breakfast. The two entered the dining halls and sat down in their places. 

King stared at Lancer in his shadowed eyes, “So why were you really awake?” 

Lancer scooted his chair back a bit, “I don't know what you mean, Father.” 

Spades slammed his fist down onto the table, “Do NOT lie to me! I am your Father and I DEMAND answers from you!” Lancer trembled in fear, unable to bring himself to look up at his enraged Father. 

“I'm not lying to you, Father. I just didn't get a lot of sleep!”

“Look me in my eyes, Lancer,” King commanded, “look me in the eyes and tell me that.” Lancer obeyed his Father and gazed up at him. 

“I didn't get a lot of sleep, okay?” Lancer replied. 

King nodded, “Good thing you didn't lie to me, son.” Lancer smiled weakly, but was interrupted when the servants entered with their breakfast. They ate in silence like always and got prepared for the day. They boarded on the elevator and Spades pressed a button on the panel. Lancer rested against the wall, glaring at the panel. There was something different, now. The odd button was painted over. Lancer frowned, but tried his best to hide his face from his father. 

The elevator made it to the desired location, and opened its doors. Spades exited the elevator before him, which he never did before. Lancer, fortunately, got a good look at the buttons. He couldn't help but to reach over, it felt like some otherworldly presence was beckoning him to disobey his elders. “Come now, Lancer!” King called out, pulling Lancer out of his fantasy. “Coming, Father!” Lancer raced over to his Father's side and jumped inside the training room. 

“Eager, huh?” Spades remarked. 

“Guess I'm just ready for today!” Lancer barked happily. King eyed him suspiciously, but decided to ignore the sudden enthusiasm. They trained for a couple of hours and they departed as always. A guard led Lancer to the castle exit and he went to explore the area once more. 

Lancer drew the layout of the Spade Castle in the dirt with a stick he found not too long ago. He carved out a rectangle below where he drew the prison. He circled it and wrote down “mysterious basement-basement”. He drew a spade where his room was and a square where a nearby elevator was located at. 

“Alright, Father is usually asleep at 11, so I just need to stay awake until he falls asleep. Then, I'll make my way down the elevator.” 

He dragged the stick down from the drawing of his room through the castle and down to the 1st floor. 

“And I need to sneak pass all the guards, then I'll be home free!” He circled another square that stood for one of the elevators. He stood up straight, proud of his seemingly full-proof plan. 

“All I gotta do is last the rest of the day!” 

Lancer patiently waited as the day played out, going through his typical routine and getting ready for bed. 

Rouxls tucked Lancer into bed and removed his hood, “Goodnight, thine majesty.” Lancer yawned, stretching his arms. 

Rouxls made his way to the exit until he was interrupted, “Hey Rouxls?” 

Kaard turned and faced the prince, “Yes, sire?” 

Lancer thought for a moment, then asked “When does your store close?”

“I beg thine pardon?”

“I just wanna know when you close down shop for the night,” Lancer averted his eyes, trying to seem as honest as possible. In reality, Lancer was a terrible liar. 

Rouxls narrowed his eyes at him, replying “Why doth it matter?” 

Lancer stuck his tongue out a bit, gripping the blanket tightly, “Can't a prince know these things?” 

“Hmm,” Rouxls hummed, “I closeth shop at 11:30 at night, sire.” 

Lancer grinned widely, shuffling under his blanket and sheets, “Okay, that's all I wanted to know.” 

Rouxls was rather perturbed by his sudden joyful nature, but acted as if he didn't care, “Alright...Reste well, thy highness.” 

With that, he left Lancer alone in his bedroom. The child shot out of bed when he thought the Duke was far enough from him, and reached under his spade-shaped bed. He grabbed out a digital timer and watch, and checked the time. He did the math in his head, and set the timer for three hours. 

“That should do it!” he squealed. He slid the timer under his pillow and pulled out a pad of paper and crayons from his bedside drawer. 

To pass the time, he colored and drew little doodles of what he expected to be down under the prison. Maybe another prison? Maybe a super high-tech laboratory? Or a giant hidden safe full of money and candy! These thoughts passed through his mind, as he drew out each one. Only an hour passed after he got bored doodling. Lancer groaned once he checked the timer, two hours left. He thought of some things to distract him from his disappointment. Singing, making farting noises, jumping on his bed, practicing his spade attacks, so on and so forth. 

Growing more and more impatient, he looked at the timer once again. One hour and forty five minutes! Lancer's eye twitched and he seethed with rage. 

“I'm not waiting any longer!”

He pulled his hood on and dashed out of his room. He turned and raced for the nearby elevator, smacking the button for the doors to open. He tapped his foot rapidly, now hearing nearing footsteps. 

“Lancer?” called out Rouxls. 

Lancer gasped, now pounding at the doors with his fists fearfully. The doors finally opened up after what felt like an eternity, and he almost fell inside. He repeatedly pressed the button for the first floor, the footsteps growing closer and closer. The doors closed and the elevator descended and Lancer sighed in relief. His calmness promptly came to an end as soon as the elevator opened up its doors. Lancer sprinted out of the room and to the other one. A few Rudinn Rangers caught glimpse of the small boy running passed them, but none of them cared enough to follow after. Lancer boarded on the second elevator and examined the panel for the hidden button. He pressed his thumb roughly against the painted over button, some of the paint being broken off as a result. The doors sealed shut and the elevator moved downward. The prince flopped onto the ground, staring up at the ceiling.  
“Finally,” he hissed under his breath, “I'll get to know that secret.” 

It took roughly three minutes for the elevator to reach its destination, and Lancer's heart pounded when the doors separated. Lancer stepped out of the little chamber, staring down at the dark purple stairs that seemed to be endless. Fear now surged through his veins, but he was in too deep now. He jumped up and snatched a torch off the wall, and turned back to the darker darkness. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the floor as he walked down the long flight of stairs. All he could hear was a very off putting “lullaby” getting louder and louder as he got closer. It sounded like some odd circus freak tune, 

“What is down here?” 

He gathered up the courage to look back up from the ground, and at the very bottom of the stairs stood a gigantic cell door. Lancer slowed down, now feeling unbelievable afraid. What could possibly be down here that warrants one cell to be isolated from everything else? 

Before he could reach the last step, a large beam of light appeared, Rouxls Kaard emerging from it. Lancer yipped in shock, the torch tumbling out of his grasp. 

“Lancer!” cried out Rouxls, running over and hugging him close. “I knewest I shant hast trusted you!” he scolded, standing up tall, “I knew thee were going to disobey the simplest of orders and cometh down here regardless!”  
Lancer ignored his meaningless words, not letting Rouxls's empty words upset him, and tried to look behind him. Rouxls kept blocking his vision so he wouldn't see what was inside that “prison”. 

Rouxls yelled out in exasperation, snatching the prince off the ground, “You art in big trouble!” He marched up the stairs, muttering swears under his breath. Lancer glanced up and looked at the cell while Kaard was distracted with his own anger. There was only a lone music box, about the size of the prince himself. Lancer tilted his head in confusion, but he was well aware that this was going to be his only piece of information for now. 

Rouxls threw him on his bed, pacing back and forth. “What kind of caretaker am I?! I should not hast telleth thou when mine shop closes! Why was I so neglectful as to allow you to even look at that damn Controle Panele!” 

Lancer was too fixated on that music box he spotted, “Why do you guys have some music box locked up?”

Rouxls snapped out of his little panic-induced rambling, “What?” 

“Yeah, there was some kinda music box or something down there!” Lancer insisted. 

“It couldst possibly be another trick of his,” Rouxls mentioned, embittered. 

“Ahh! You said his! Who is this guy?!” Lancer shouted, flailing his arms around and pointing at the alarmed Duke. His hands clasped around his mouth, head shaking wildly. 

“Oh come on, Rouxls! I'm almost ten, why can't anyone trust me with this secret?” Lancer wailed. Rouxls waited for himself to calm down, his vision no longer blurry with tears. 

He took a deep breath and exhaled calmly, “Look, that...Thing! Yes, yes, that thing was suppose to be forgotten longeth ago! Thou must never traverse down that dungeon, thine father forbids it!” 

“Why?!” Lancer argued, “I'm going to be king eventually. Shouldn't you guys trust me for once and just tell me?” 

“Lancer, that is ENOUGH!” Rouxls bellowed, stomping his foot on the ground. Lancer fell back in fear, blocking his face with his arms. Rouxls body became rigid at the sight of Lancer's reflexes to protect himself.

He shut his eyes, looking away, “Look...I am sorry that I got upset with you, but thou cannot let thine Father know about any of this. It could lead to catastrophe.” Rouxls exited the bedroom leaving Lancer by himself. Lancer sat up, relieved that he wasn't hit, but still upset about the argument. 

Despite his biological father being the one to physically hurt him, Lancer got accustomed to cover himself for any potential blows during a dispute. The prince pulled the blanket over himself, laying down and forcing himself to go to sleep. 

A servant knocked on the door and peered inside, “Prince Lancer?”

Lancer moaned a bit, rolling onto his side, “Five more minutes.” 

The servant meekly walked over and gently shook the prince's shoulder, “Breakfast is ready and the King is waiting for you.” 

Lancer's eyes shot open in surprise, “What time is it?” 

“Err, time for breakfast, young sire,” the servant replied. Lancer had to skip his morning routine in order to make it to the Dining Hall in time. Still in his pajamas, Lancer took a seat in front of his grumpy father. 

“You're late,” King spat, shifting in his seat, “what happened?” 

Lancer rubbed his eyes, picking up a fork and stabbing it into his scrambled eggs, “I fell asleep late.” 

Spade's snout scrunched up a bit, taking Lancer's response as an “attitude” of his, “Oh?”

Lancer merely nodded, not wanting to carry on the conversation. King leaned forward slightly, resting his head on his fist, “And why is that?” 

Lancer just nodded again, fatigue getting the best of him. Spades huffed angrily, and kicked one of the table legs. The table struck into Lancer's belly, knocking the wind out of him. 

He regained most of his consciousness, and pushed the table off of him, “What was that for?”

“To wake you up. Now why did you fall asleep so late?” King tapped his claws against the table rhythmically. Lancer shoved a generous amount of eggs in his mouth, trying to come up with some excuse to not answer him. He, of course, went with his normal excuse and pointed to himself eating. King rolled his eyes and decided to leave it at that.  
They skipped their typical training session due to Lancer not getting enough sleep. Lancer just laid on his bed for most of the day, not moving at all. He had no one to talk to about his struggles. No one to talk to or to ask about that strange music box. Lancer sighed, turning his body onto his side. 

Lancer suddenly felt a hand rest against his shoulder. He opened his eyes wide with fear, and a bone-chilling voice spoke, “GO DOWN THERE IN TWO DAYS AT MIDNIGHT. STAY AS NORMAL AND AS INCONSPICUOUS AS POSSIBLE, LANCER.” 

Lancer jumped up, looking around everywhere. The horrible presence he felt was gone, there was no one in sight. “Two days?” he breathed. Those words resonated within him for the rest of that day, and he even dreamed about it at night. 

Just one more day, then he could finally visit this music box. Lancer obeyed this mysterious man's instructions, and stayed as normal as he possibly could. He created a plan for tomorrow night: stock up on any kind of caffeinated beverages and sugary foods to make sure he's hyper and well awake for his little meeting; make a little dummy of sorts to put in place of him in bed to make it look like he's in there; and to make sure to be as sneaky as possible. 

He woke up at the appropriate time this morning, he had snagged some coffees and soda from the kitchen, as well as some candy. He went along on his ordinary schedule, going around bossing his legion of various guys and practicing being evil. 

Nighttime fell, adrenaline and excitement coursing through his veins. Rouxls tucked the boy into bed, and wished him a goodnight. Lancer had set a timer for four hours and he fell asleep. Four hours passed, and the timer went off. Lancer opened his eyes, already prepared for his adventure. He shut off the timer and reached under his bed. He stood up and placed a few stolen pillows onto his bed, those looking like Lancer rolled on his side. He pulled the blanket over the pillows, and set his little sleeping hat at the top of it. He pulled his blue hoodie on and placed a blue rag on the table that resembled it. He snatched out a bottle of a caffeinated soda and chugged it down. It definitely gave him one hell of a boost. He smiled, his little tail wagging enthusiastically. 

He donned his black leotard and stuffed his pajamas under the bed. He pulled out a flashlight out of one of the holes in the ground and turned it on. He slid some chocolate bars under his hood, and sneaked out of his bedroom. He took careful steps to make as little noise as he could. He gingerly pressed the elevator button, and it opened immediately. He boarded on it and went down to the 1st floor. He tiptoed to the 1st floor elevator, making sure to avoid nearby guards. He got in and pressed the bottom button. 

The doors shut, and the elevator went down.


	2. Music Box Imp

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After days of waiting, Lancer finally meets the ex-jester!

The elevator came to a stop and the doors opened up. The faint noise of the strange lullaby still echoed throughout the chamber. Gathering his strength, he aimed his flashlight down and descended down the stairs. He observed his surrounding carefully, taking note of all the cracks and cobwebs all over the walls, stairs, and corners. His footsteps were deafening, despite him taking very slow and careful steps. It felt like an eternity of walking, but last time didn't feel no where near as long as this. His patience wore thin, and he bolted down the stairs, some of the old bricks being chipped off the staircases consequently. 

He tripped down the last few steps and came tumbling straight down, his flashlight hurdling out of his grip. He fell face first onto the hard floor, a loud “Agh!” coming from him. He grumbled and got up on his knees, checking himself for any wounds. He peered over to the broken pieces of his light and scurried over in a panic, “Are you serious?! Ugh!” He picked up the broken pieces of metal, glass, and plastic on the floor and shoved it all into a corner. He huffed angrily and snatched up the chocolate bars off the ground, sliding them under his dirty hood. He finally got off the ground, dusted himself off, and adjusted his hoodie, gloves, and boots.

“Huh?” the music the box was emitting suddenly stopped. The handle on it began to turn counter-clockwise, and a new song was played. A much more energetic, chaotic, and circus-themed song. Lancer backed up, dread building up inside him. The handle's movement ceased, the music silencing.

. . .

The lid popped from the hinges, an imp's head bursting out of it, laughing wildly. Lancer screamed like a little girl, falling backwards. The little gremlin lunged out of the box, his head connecting back to his body. The periwinkle goblin settled onto his J-shaped tail, stretching out his arms and legs. He landed on his feet, a satisfied little grin on his face. Lancer panted, sweat dripping down his face, and this caught the goblin's attention. 

He gasped loudly, “Could it truly, truly be? A visitor, visitor has graced my presence! Who might you be, dear prisoner?” 

Lancer waited for his breathing to slow down until it was at a normal rate, and he rose up. He took a deep breath, and shouted, “Who are you?! What is this place? Why are you in there! Why is this dungeon under the other dungeon? Why was there a music box inside there and how did you even fit in it! W-What is all of this!?”

All of these questions didn't deter or intimidate the little creature at all, “Ah-ah, I asked my question, question first!”

Lancer grumbled, crossing his arms, “Well I'm the prince, so you answer my question first!”

This time, the little goblin was taken aback, “The prince, prince?” His eyes lit up with joy, “Oh, I've heard lots and lots about you, you!” he spun and jumped around in his little cell.

Lancer uncrossed his arms, “Wait, really? Like what?”

He turned to face the little boy, and replied,“I've heard that you're a very, very adventurous soul, young one! And that you love causing a bunch of trouble, trouble!” 

“Huh? Well, I don't like causing trouble, and I really hate getting in trouble!” Lancer stomped his foot on the ground in frustration.

The little prisoner giggled at him, clearly amused, “Well why is that, little Lancer? Why not enjoy the fun and chaos you create, create?” 

“Well...Dad and Rouxls get really mad at me whenever I disobey them or do wrong,” Lancer explained, “and you still haven't answered my quest-.” He instantly paused in sudden realization. The little demon giggled at Lancer's goofy expression.

“How do you know my name?” Lancer's muzzle scrunched up in confusion.

He laughed and clapped his hands, “Let's just say a little birdy, birdy told me!” He then produced a useless bird from his sleeve. “Yet, you still failed to answer my question, question, dear prince!”

“You already know my name, clown!” Lancer snapped, gripping onto the prison bars.

“No need to be so rude, rude, young one! You sound just like the Grump King!” The goblin retorted in a very cheeky manner.

“Well I...I-I..” Lancer stuttered, unable to find any words. It took him a moment to snap back to reality, but when he did, he shouted “Urgh! Whatever, you still have a bunch of questions you need to answer!”

“Well ask, ask away, prince Lancer!” He waved his hand at the little boy, lifting himself back up on his tail. 

“Okay, first thing's first: Who are you?!” Lancer jumped up waving his arms at him.

“Why I'm Jevil, Jevil, little man! I am the freed court jester!” He cried out, aiming hand at his tiny little world.

“Court jester? We never had a jester before,” Lancer murmured. 

“Ah, you may have not, but the five, five monarchs have!” Jevil spun around on his tail.

“Huh? But it's only been me and my dad,” Lancer argued.

Jevil waved his finger at him, “That may be so, for your present, present, but a long, long time ago, five monarchs ruled over this Dark World!” 

“Five?” He tilted his head in confusion.

Jevil mimicked his movement, grinning widely, “Indeed!” 

Lancer furrowed his brow, stroking his chin, “Okay...Well, onto the next question!” Jevil straightened back up, eager for the next inquiry.

“What is this place?” Lancer glanced behind him and into Jevil's little domain.

“Ah, this place, place that I am out in is my free world! The place you're trapped in is your pitiful, pitiful little prison!” Jevil proclaimed proudly.

“My prison? But you're the one that's clearly locked up!” Lancer spat.

“That may be so, from your blinded, blinded perspective, Lancer, but that is untrue! I've been freed so long, so long, long ago!” Jevil bounced around on his J-shaped tail. Lancer knew he wasn't going to get anywhere with that enigma, so he moved on to the next.

“Okay, fine then! Why was there a music box inside your 'freedom', and how'd you even fit?” He pointed to the area to where it was, but it was gone, “Wait, where did it go!”

“Music box? Oh, oh! I know what you mean, mean! I'm that music box!” He pointed to himself. Lancer, of course, just glared at him like he was a lunatic, “What?”

Jevil nodded his head, “Yes, yes, I was that music box. You see, I am able to turn into anything whenever I want! When I sleep, I sometimes turn into a big music box!” He then got off his tail and leaned close to the bars, pressing the side of his hand to the corner of his mouth secretly, “But, it's typically involuntary.” He smirked gaily, hopping back onto his tail.

“Oh,” Lancer stuck his tongue out, frowning. Jevil pouted, dropping himself in front of the small boy. He reached through the magical field, and cupped his hand under Lancer's chin. He raised his head up, giving him a reassuring smile, “Don't be glum, glum! I have a wondrous idea! If you have any questions about this area, then go visit the old shopkeeper in the Field, Field!” 

Lancer rubbed his nose, sucking his tongue back into his mouth, “Who?”

“He is an old friend of mine! The old 'seap'-keeper Seam!” He pulled his hands back into his freedom.

“Uh...S-Seem?” He mispronounced his name.

“Oh, no no no no! It's pronounced 'shawm', Lancer,” Jevil corrected him.

“Seam...Huh, weird name, but okay. I'll go visit him tomorrow if I can.” He smiled once more, his confidence returning, “Well, bye clown ma-.” 

He stared up to the roof, Jevil had floated all the way up there, hanging upside down. He was humming an unfamiliar tune, his tail waving side to side. Lancer relaxed his shoulder, totally dumbfounded of how he got up there so quickly. Lancer gave up on him, and ascended up the long flight of stairs. It didn't seem nearly as long climbing up the stairs as it was walking down them, which frustrated Lancer to no end. 

He retired back to his bedroom, stripping down from his typical clothes and pulling his pink pajamas back on. He dropped the stolen pillows and chocolate on the ground and kicked them under his bed. He was far too exhausted to do or think of anything else, and dove face first into his spade-shaped bed, drifting off to sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it took so long, everyone! I've been pretty busy lately, and this chapter isn't as nearly as long as the first. I still hope you all enjoyed it, though.


	3. Old "Seap"-keeper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancer hunts down Seam for unanswered questions.

Before he knew it, it was time to wake back up. He rolled out of bed and dragged himself to the bathroom to get prepared for the day. He splashed water on his face, staring at the mirror. After a few minutes of trying to wake up, he trudged to the Dining Hall. King of Spades was already eating his breakfast, Lancer just assumed he got tired of waiting and went on and ate before him. He sat down and took a large bite out of his blueberry muffin.

“You're late,” Spades huffed.

“I just woke up a little late, it's no big deal,” Lancer insisted. King narrowed his eyes at his son, tapping his claws on the table. Lancer shifted in his seat uncomfortably, shoving the rest of his muffin into his mouth. Spades snorted angrily, standing from his throne-like chair suddenly. Lancer tensed up, but gathered the courage to ask his father, “Hey Father?”

King paused, back turned to his child, “What is it, Lancer?”

“Well, I was thinking, since my birthday is only about two week away...Could I possibly start exploring...Oh you know, further into the Dark World?” Lancer twiddled his thumbs and gave his father an innocent smile. This request certainly caught King off guard, but he considered his options.

“Why do you want to?” he faced Lancer.

Lancer shrugged, “Just wanted to explore a bit more, you know?”

“Give me one good reason why I should grant you that privilege,” he sneered.

“Pretty please! I promise I won't go too far, and I always hear you talk about tons of Rudinns and Hathys and Jigsawrys and other Darkners being everywhere! I'm sure there are some out in the Fields,” he begged.

“Fields? Is that where you wish to go? Why?” he fully turned and looked down at his kid.

Lancer slumped down in his seat, feeling intimidated, “Well, I just want to know what it's like and stuff.” He pouted pathetically, whining slightly.

King growled, “Fine, if it means you stop making that stupid face!” Lancer beamed with joy, sitting back up and continuing with his breakfast. Why do I let this boy get away with such stupid things? King thought.

Lancer and King skipped training, and the little pup was let out to roam the Dark World. “Alright, I need to find this weird shopkeeper dude,” he mumbled to himself, “but where is he in the Fields?” He walked down the Card Castle path and turned to the Warp Door. He remembered guards talking about this strange portal a bunch of times before.

He ran over to it, and shouted “Take me to the Fields!” He turned the handle and entered through it. He walked out the Warp Door, stepping into the Fields. He gasped, looking around the area. He jumped around in joy, “It worked, it worked!” He hesitated for a moment, bringing himself back to reality, Okay, I'm at the Fields, but where to now? 

He decided left was his best option and he sauntered on over. There stood a rickety, old cardboard entrance that was burrowed into the wall. “That must be it!” Lancer exclaimed, and dashed over. He jumped inside the little shop, landing and doing his signature pose, “Shopkeeper Seam! Prince Lancer is here and I request your pr-!” He then noticed no one was at the counter, “...Or not.”

“Yeah, just gimme a minute,” croaked an old, shabby voice from the back room. Lancer sighed and waited for the shopkeeper to come back. The floor creaked as a very tall, raggedy, worn down, and creepy-looking rag doll cat emerged from the back room. His ochre colored button eye shimmered in the lantern lights, his shaky paw gripping tightly onto his oak walking cane. Lancer's heart dropped at the sight of the poor Darkner. Seam glanced down at the little Spade Prince, and he raised his brow.

Lancer shook his head and cleared his throat, “Shopkeeper Seam! I have urgent questions to ask of you!”

“Questions, huh?” he hobbled over to the counter, “What is this, some kinda interrogation? I haven't done anything illegal, now. Well, not for the past few decades, at least.” He chuckled at the last remark. Lancer tapped his foot impatiently, crossing his arms.

“Oh, right. Please, continue with your little investigation, Spades Junior,” Seam teased.

Lancer pouted, uncrossing his arms, “Gladly, and for your information, I am Dark Jack Lancer the first!” He did his signature pose.

Seam grinned a bit, stroking the fur on his chin, “So they finally consummated the marriage, hm?”

“Err, what?” Lancer stopped posing, looking up at the purple feline.

Seam nonchalantly waved his paw, “Eh, it's nothing, sire. Go on and ask me whatever.”

Lancer stood on his toes in order to reach over the table fully, resting his arms on the tabletop, “Well I want to know about the basement-basement.”

“Eh? Basement-basement? What are you talking about?” Seam's ear twitched slightly.

“You know, the prison below the actual prison? The one Jevil's in!” Lancer persisted. Seam froze and his heart skipped beat. His button eye twirled and his lips curled into a smile, “Jevil? Did you just say 'Jevil'?”

Lancer was a bit confused about the sudden change of tone, “Uh, yeah.”

“After all these years, he's still alive and known? Thought he would've been forgotten a long time ago,” he muttered.

“Uh....What?” Lancer tilted his head.

“Hm? Ah, I'm sorry, sire. I'm just thinking about things.” Seam apologized, “Besides, how do you even know about him?”

“Oh, I found him!” Lancer smirked proudly.

“Found him?” Seam grimaced a bit, ears pulled back.

“Well, I found the button that led to that location,” Lancer corrected himself, “but actually getting there was the hard part. It's...A long story.”

Seam stood straight, “Well if that's the case, then let's go to the back room.” He grabbed his walking cane and led the way. Lancer followed behind, eyeing all of the knickknacks, weapons, armors, and food on the store shelves. 

They entered inside the cozy, warm back room. The walls were decorated with glowing lanterns and shelves with extra shop items. Pillows and blankets were placed all around the corners of the room, all of varying sizes, shapes, and colors. “Make yourself at home,” Seam said, making his way to the oven and fridge to the other side of the room. Lancer piled some blankets and pillows in front of a wooden rocking chair and flopped on top of them. He glanced up at the dark chair, it had the name “Seam” neatly carved in it. 

“What kind of tea do you like, Lancer, and would you like any desserts?” Seam inquired.

“Actually, I'm not a big fan of tea. Do you have any milk? Oh, and I want some chocolate chip cookies, too!” Lancer cheered. 

Seam smiled and shook his head, chuckling to himself, “Alright.”

Lancer took some offense to this, “What's so funny?” he barked. 

“Ah, it's nothing. Your request just reminded me of somethin',” he muttered. Lancer stuck his tongue out at him, giving him a sour look; Seam didn't notice at all. He selected a jug of milk from his fridge and a small plastic cup from one of the cabinets. He poured the milk into the glass, and his paw glowed a deep blue aura. The cup got encased in this glow, and it levitated over to the bewildered prince. 

“Woah! What was that?” he gasped.

“It's just a simple magic trick, sire,” Seam slid the milk back inside the refrigerator. 

Lancer eyed his beverage suspiciously, “Hmm...”

“It's not poisoned, Lancer. Go on and drink some of it,” Seam ordered. Lancer reluctantly did so and took a sip. Tasted milky. 

“And you said you wanted chocolate chip cookies?” Seam glanced over to the boy. 

Lancer wiped the milk mustache off of his upper lip, “Yep.” Seam scanned through his fridge and cupboards, no sign of any chocolate chip cookies, “Ah, looks like I forgot to bake some earlier. How about some sugar cookies instead?”

“Hmm,” Lancer hummed, “are they good?”

“Oh, definitely. It's an old family recipe, I'm sure you'll love them,” he smiled with pride. 

“Well, I guess I'll try it,” Lancer puffed. Seam's ear twitched with joy as he plucked a plastic container full of them from his white fridge. He set the cookies on a paper plate and his paws glimmered a fiery orange aura. The cookies were shrouded in the same color, getting warmed up. His paws switched to the blue aura once more and drifted the plate to the bedazzled prince, “Be careful, they're hot.” He stopped his magic, limped over to his rocking chair, and sat down. “Alright, so I want you to tell me what all happened,” he muttered, taking deep breaths since all of that walking took a toll on him.

Lancer obeyed the old cat and told everything that happened ever since he saw that mysterious elevator button, “And here I am now.” 

“Hmm, alright, so this mysterious man spoke to you,” he cringed a bit, frowning.

“Yeah, he voice sounded kinda...Glitchy somehow. Like I said, I didn't see him, I just...Felt very...Um...” Lancer voice trailed off.

“Scared?” Seam assumed he was afraid.

“W-What? No, I wasn't scared! The best villains never get scared!” he lied.

Seam giggled quietly, “Whatever you say, Mister Villain.”

“Exactly!” Lancer howled, snatching a cookie from his plate and taking a large bite out of it. His face changed from offended pride to amazement in a matter of seconds. The cookie was indeed delicious, probably the best he's ever tasted.

“It's good, isn't it,” Seam reaffirmed in a mocking matter. Lancer didn't notice his wry way of speaking and nodded, stuffing another cookie in his mouth. “Slow down, now, Lancer. Don't want you chokin' on it or anything,” Seam cautioned. Lancer chugged down some of the milk to wash the cookies down. 

He cleared his throat and demanded, “Now I wanna know more about the basement-basement.”

“Well, what all do you want to know, Lancer?” Seam rested his head on his fist.

“Okay, why does it even exist in the first place? And how long has my dad had it!” Lancer asked.

“Well, it was there long before your father was even born. It's just been down there for God knows how long! And it's purpose? It wasn't even a prison, or in Jevil's case, a 'free world' to begin with. I created those bars to make as a prison cell for him when he went insane. Legends say it's a portal where the Lightners come in and out of, or that it could be the portal to Hell. Of course, that's all been debunked ever since I 'locked us all away'.” Seam explained. 

“Oh...” Lancer moaned, “Wait, Jevil went crazy?” He then perked his head up, surprised.

Seam shut his eye and nodded, “Yes, he lost his mind ever since he...” He opened his eye and turned his head away, “I'd rather not talk about it.”

Lancer respected his choice and moved on to the next question, “How long have you known each other?”

“How long, hm?” he sat back up, adjusting his heavy brown coat, “Before he and I became court magician and jester.”

“Wait, magician and jester? Oh come on, are you serious!” Lancer threw his arms in the air.

“Yes, very serious. He and I were pretty much celebrities when we finally stepped up to the plate.” He chuckled to himself, “We did so many tricks and stunts to appease and amaze the monarchs. Obviously the Rules Card of the time didn't like us too much since we always broke the rules just to entertain them.”

“You mean Lesser Dad?” Lancer put his arms down.

“The new Rules Card? Oh no, there was an entirely different one when we were in our prime. Jevil really hated her for personal reasons.”

“What reasons?” Lancer was getting more and more nosier by the second.

“Ah, it ain't nice talking about people's business like that, if you really wanna know, just ask Jevil,” he waved his paw carelessly.

Lancer grumbled, hunching over, “Fine, who were these 'five monarchs'?”

“Ah, that's right, you never met 'em except your father, huh? Well there was the King of Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, and, well, your father. The last one, however-.” He was interrupted when a customer walked in, “Err, I'm afraid I have to end this here, Lancer.”

Lancer groaned loudly, flopping on his back, “Why can't anything go my way for once!”

Seam shrugged his shoulders, and reached over to grab his walking cane, “Life's unfair, sire.”

He struggled to stand, using his cane to give him a boost up, “You can take those cookies home with you, if you'd like.” He trudged out of the room, leaving Lancer by himself. Lancer gathered up the leftover cookies and tucked them under his hood. He peeked out at Seam who was selling a local Rudinn some Dark Candy. The young boy gasped and threw himself back inside, pulling pillows and blankets over himself. The Rudinn glanced over, hearing the calamity, “Uh, what's going on back there?” 

Seam twitched his ear, “I have no idea what you're talking about. I'm hard of hearing, you see.” The Rudinn narrowed his eyes at Seam, handing over the dark dollars to him, “Do you mind if I check out what's back there?”

Seam spoke, “I just have a guest back there, it's nothin' to worry about, sir.”

“Mmm...If you say so,” the soldier slithered out of the shop. 

Seam stopped the “ignorant old man” shtick and called out to Lancer, “Alright, he's gone, you can come out now!” Lancer army-crawled out of the room, looking left to right cautiously. Seam watched the young prince, amused by his silly little movements and acts. Lancer failed at doing a somersault and just plopped onto his back with a resounding thud, “Ow!” Seam laughed, his paw glowing blue again. Lancer's soul suddenly appeared and turned the same shade of blue. He was lifted off the ground, Lancer internally panicking, but he was set near the exit. Seam freed him from his magical grasp, leaning against the table. Lancer dusted himself off, regaining confidence and pride, “I meant to do that.”

“Right, right. If you say so,” Seam smirked wryly. 

“Well, thanks for the cookies and answers, Seam!” he turned and headed toward the exit, until he was interrupted.

“Hold on a second,” Seam instructed. Lancer halted and looked at him, perplexed. “Just, how much do you plan on visiting Jevil?” he asked, a stern look on his face.

“Uhh...I dunno,” Lancer answered.

Seam sighed, “Just be careful, alright? He can be very unpredictable, no one wants you getting hurt.”

Lancer pouted, his tongue sticking out, “Now you're sounding just like Lesser Dad.”

“I just wanted to let you know that he is very dangerous, I want you to be weary of him,” Seam retorted. Lancer was defeated once more, and nodded, “Okay, okay, I'll be careful.” Seam didn't believe him one bit, but put on his “ignorant old man” shtick once again, “Good, I'm glad to hear. Come back whenever you'd like, Lancer. Not like I'm gonna be doing anything important anytime soon.” Lancer smiled and ran off back to the castle. Seam sighed, resting his head on the paw, “Let's just hope things won't get too outta hand.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hhhhhhhhhh
> 
> I'm so sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. I'm tempted to start giving myself due dates when it comes to these chapters, but I know I won't reach them. This chapter is kinda short too, but I hope you guys enjoy it!


	4. Cameras, cameras!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancer returns to Jevil for the second time.

He continued his evening and night routine and flopped into bed. Rouxls followed shortly behind and tucked him in, “Wouldst thou liketh me to read thee a book?” 

“No thanks, Rouxls,” Lancer sunk deeper into his blanket.

“Well, if thou sayeth so,” he stood up and patted Lancer’s head, “Goodnight.” Rouxls closed the door behind, and Lancer waited until he was fully out of earshot. He dove under his bed and pulled out his timer and clock, and set it for four hours. He slid the timer under his pillows, resting his head atop of them and falling asleep.

The timer beeped loudly, Lancer waking immediately and turning it off. He rolled out of bed and pulled the stolen pillows out from under it. He stripped out of his pajamas and pulled them over the cushions. He dressed himself in his typical day clothes and got ready for his next adventure. He pushed the door open quietly, looking around to see if anyone is nearby. There wasn’t. Lancer smiled gleefully and ran silently over to the elevator. He got in and rode down, stepping in the first floor. There were a few Ruddins here and there, but they all seem incredibly tired. Lancer sneaked pass them and hopped aboard the next elevator, and pressed the button to Jevil’s “prison”. 

The chamber descended and Lancer waited impatiently. He tapped his foot feverishly until the doors opened. His tail perked up and a wide grin grew on his face. 

He raced carefully down the stairs, keeping in mind how fragile and old they were. He jumped down the last few staircases and landed on the cold, hard ground in front of Jevil’s domain. He looked up, but no one was in there, “What?” He took a few steps closer to the bars, “Clown man? You in th-”

Jevil sprung down from the ceiling, his head slinging off his shoulders and cackled manically. Lancer squealed loudly, falling backwards. 

Jevil landed on his tail, his head snapping back onto his body, “Oh, you should’ve seen the look, look on your face, dear Lancer! Jolly good show, jolly indeed!” 

Lancer huffed angrily, sitting up, “That wasn’t funny!” His cheeks were a bright red from embarrassment and anger. 

“Oh, but it was, was! That little scream of yours is funny, funny! I should’ve took a picture! Ooo! My camera, where is it?” His head turned 90 degrees like an owl, and he scanned his lair. Lancer got off the floor and dusted himself off, grumbling lowly. Jevil sprung off his tail and searched around the area, “Oh where is that darn, darn camera!”

Lancer took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, getting rid of all of the negative thoughts and emotions, and mentioned “I saw that Seam guy you were talking about.” Jevil paused midair, floating above the ground.

He levitated upside down and looked to the little pup, “You did, you did? How was he, he! What all did he say, say?” He dashed over to the prince, still levitating and gripped onto the bars. 

“He was uh...Kinda creepy looking. He was missing an eye, he had tears and patches all over him. And I think he had a missing arm, too!” Lancer explained, Jevil’s heart sinking at every word the boy said. 

“Really, now?” Jevil peeped, sinking down until his feet reached the floor. 

“Yeah, but he was a nice old guy; he was a very good host, too!” Lancer smiled.

Jevil’s happiness returned to him, “Indeed he is, is! He’s always been oh-so caring.” He floated up once more, his feet dangling above the floor, “So what all did he tell, tell you?”

“He said that this place was made before Father was even born! Honestly, I didn’t know my dad had a dad before him,” Lancer stuck his tongue out slightly. 

“Oh, everyone has parents, parents, dear Lancer! Even I had a mommy and daddy!” Jevil pointed to himself.

“Really? What were they like?” Lancer bounced gleefully. 

“Me and my parents were all circus performers! I was raised in a circus, believe it or not,” Jevil giggled.

“I guess that kinda explains why you’re….You? And what did you guys even do in the circus?” Lancer asked.

“My dad was a clown as you’d expect. My mom, on the other hand, was a contortionist,” he answered.

“Cont...Contor..shun...is? What even is that?” Lancer tried to break the word down into syllables in order to pronounce it.

Jevil grinned deviously, “Oh I can show, show you!”

“Okay, show me!” Lancer was completely oblivious. Jevil sat down on the ground and turned his legs behind his head. He curled himself into a ball, head poking out between his legs and feet pressed again the ground, “Like this, this!” Lancer was very disturbed and freaked out by this sight. He frowned and scrunched up his nose, “Weeeeeiiiirrrddd...” he groaned. Jevil laughed and untangled himself. He jumped back up and suspended himself back onto his tail. 

Lancer shuddered and spoke, “So what did YOU do?”

“I did many, many things!” Jevil said.

“Like what?” Lancer was getting more and more frustrated.

“Well did acrobats, trapeze, juggling, knife throwing, contortions, and tightrope walking. I'm skilled in many, many things!” Jevil boasted.

“So you did a lot of tricks up in the air and stuff?” Lancer simplified it down for himself to understand.

“More or less,” Jevil shrugged, “but I was always made fun of it because I was pretty much the only boy who did any of them.”

“Well what does that have to do with anything?” Lancer retorted.

“Exactly, exactly! Someone gets it!” Jevil cried out. “Seam told me that they probably had no outlet for their insecurities, so they used me as their little ‘outlet’. But I find that to be total bullcrap”

“Insecurities? You guys were circus performers, you guys did a bunch of tricks and things to make others laugh and stuff!” Lancer argued. 

“You’re correct, but all of us were...Outcasts to put it simply,” Jevil cringed a bit, still forcing a smile.

“Outcasts?” Lancer took a step back.

“Oh yes, yes! We all were a bunch of freaks!!” Jevil laughed, his weird but cheery attitude coming back to him once more, “Darkners that weren’t one of us labeled us as ‘The Freakshow’! So that became our new name for us, ‘The Freakshow’.”

“Freaks how, exactly?” Lancer was getting antsy and curious.

“Ah, we were all a bunch of ‘misfits’, I suppose. Many of us were runaway renegades or criminals looking for a fresh start and a way to bond and make money! And most of us were very odd looking, too, like me, me for example! Some of us were even hybrids, hybrids! Or misshapen toys from tragic accidents from the past.” Jevil replied.

Lancer grimaced, “Wow...That sounds pretty rough.”

“Very rough, in fact,” Jevil agreed, “and our ringleader, we all called him Ring for short, made us engage in petty criminal, criminal acts!”

“Wait, you’re a criminal? Is that why you’re locked up in there?” Lancer pointed to the ex-jester.

“That’s not the reason why I was freed, Lancer, my boy! But the only real crimes I did back in the day was pick-pocketing and swindling,” Jevil held up Lancer’s blue hood, “see, see?” Lancer yelped in shock, checking his head. His hood was somehow snagged off of him. 

“Hey, give it back!” Lancer flailed his arms at him. Jevil laughed at him, levitating it close to the bars, but too high up for the little pup to reach. After a moment of Lancer futilely trying to retrieve his hood, Jevil tossed it back to him.

“How’d you even do that? You didn’t even move or anything!” Lancer barked angrily, pulling his hood back on his head.

“A great pick-pocketer never reveals their secrets~,” Jevil teased in a sing-songy voice.

Lancer huffed angrily, stomping his foot onto the ground, “Well it wasn’t funny.”

“Oh darn it, I should’ve took a picture, picture!” Jevil yelled. Lancer glared at him, sticking his tongue out. Jevil flew around his tiny world searching for the aforementioned camera. Lancer leaned against the wall, watching the little gremlin. 

“Metamorphosis!” he shouted, and turned into a jackhammer. Lancer’s eyes widened as he watched the goblin-jackhammer dig deep holes in the ground. After a few minutes of Jevil damaging his world, he turned back into his normal form. He sighed loudly, but felt something shift under his hat, “Hm?” 

He slipped his hand under his large hat and pulled out a digital camera, “Oh there, there you are!” Lancer giggled at the incompetent clown.

“Oh, what are you laughing at?” Jevil snapped jokingly, raising his tail up. Lancer’s hood was being held up by his J-shaped tail. Lancer gasped and felt around on his head; gone again. Jevil snapped a photo of the distressed boy, snickering to himself. Lancer leaped at the bars, trying to grab his tail. Jevil flew up and held the boy back with his foot, “Come on…! Oph! Too slow. Try agaaaaiiin!” He kept mocking him and pulling his hood away as soon as it got close to the boy. Throughout the entire debacle, Jevil took pictures of the angry dog. Lancer grabbed his leg and pulled him closer, and Jevil relinquished the hood. 

Lancer snatched it back and put it back on, “Quit doing that!”

Jevil giggled triumphantly, settling onto his tail, “Do what, exactly?”

Lancer gripped onto his hood, taking several steps back, “Don’t you dare.” Jevil then held out his hand, Lancer’s gloves in his grasp. Lancer tensed up in shock and checked his barren paws. 

“What, you thought I was going to take the same, same thing again? No, no, no! I’m not that unoriginal!” Jevil taunted. Lancer growled and shouted, charging at the cheeky goblin. Jevil hovered forward and stopped the enraged kid with his tail, and they repeated the same charade again. 

Lancer reclaimed his gloves and pulled them on his paws, his face a bright red from anger. Jevil applauded, chuckling quietly. 

“How’d you even get a camera?” he snapped.

Jevil paused and thought, but shrugged after a moment, “I don’t quite remember, remember!” Lancer snorted a bit, sitting on the ground.

“So what would you like to do now, now?” Jevil piped up. After a minute, Jevil realized that the boy had fallen asleep on him. Jevil snickered and shook his head wildly all over the place, the bells on his hat ringing loudly. Lancer woke up in surprise.

“Wakey, wakey, sleepy head!” Jevil yelled, knocking a coffee mug against the bars rhythmically. 

Lancer moaned raggedly, rubbing his eyes, “Okay, I’m going to bed.”

“Sweet, sweet dreams, little princey!” Jevil cried out to the tired boy as he climbed up the flight of stairs.

It felt like an eternity getting back to his room. He regretted not remembering to eat anything sweet or drink any caffeinated beverages. He flopped on top of the stolen pillows, not bothering putting away any evidence. He kicked and turned, trying to find the perfect sleeping position, but the pillows kept getting in the way. “Uuuuugh, why can’t I be lazy for once?” he groaned. 

He snatched the pillows up and threw them under the bed. He removed his hood, and tossed it onto the ground, rolling onto his stomach and pressing his face against his own pillows. He drifted off to sleep, worried about how he’s going to feel when he wakes up in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ALRIGHT the 4th chapter is done. I hope you all enjoy it, and I'm already halfway done with the 5th chapter. I'm still debating on whether to publish it when I get done with it or wait a few days and then add it.


	5. Mood Swings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancer visits Seam once more to talk about Jevil.

A servant popped her head in the room, knocking on the door, “Prince Lancer?” He turned his head and peered at the woman, giving her an exhausted and cranky look. She fidgeted nervously, “Breakfast is ready, sire.” Lancer rolled back over and buried his face back into his pillows, ignoring her.

She shuffled over to him, tapping his shoulder, “Your father is waiting for you, your majesty.”

Lancer swatted her away with his paw, turning onto his side, “Okay, okay, I’m getting up.” She left the room hastily to leave Lancer be. He got out of bed, stretching his arms and howl-yawned. He snatched his hoodie off the floor and slid his boots on, and trudged grumpily out of his bedroom. He adjusted his hoodie and made his way to the elevator, until he was interrupted. “Thine majesty!” called out Rouxls, speed-walking over to the tired kid, “Why did thou wake up so late?”

“The more you talk to me, the more late I’ll be,” Lancer hissed, pressing the elevator button.

Rouxls was definitely taken aback from this attitude of his, but turned his head away, “Right.” After a few minutes of traveling, they entered the dining room where the King of Spades was already eating. Lancer sighed and pretty much dragged himself to his chair. He raised his arms up, expecting to be lifted up into his chair. Kaard sighed lowly and rushed over to him, grabbing him by the underarms.

“Don’t help him,” King snarled, “he’s late, so he’ll reap the consequences and move on his OWN.” Lancer whined, getting out of the Duke’s grip. He pulled himself on the throne-like chair, and Rouxls pushed him toward the table. Spades gave Rouxls a look of death, baring his fangs together. He averted King’s haunting gaze and ran out of the room to avoid his wrath. 

Spades turned his attention to his son, “This is the second time you were late, why is that?” Lancer said nothing and took a bite of his sausage biscuit, fear slowly taking over him. Spades growled loudly and snatched Lancer’s milk away from him, and splashed him in the face with it. Lancer yelped in surprise, picking up a napkin and wiping his face. 

“Quit beating around the damn bush and tell me, dammit!” he screamed.

Lancer quivered in fear, bowing his head, “I just keep going to bed late.”

“And why is that?” he crossed his arms, eyeing the boy skeptically.

“I-I, uh...Well..-” he stammered

“Stop stammering and tell me, for God’s sake!” he spat.

“I’ve just been...Antsy, lately,” he admitted.

“Antsy?” he repeated, not entirely convinced of his reasoning.

“I’m almost ten, and you guys still treat me like I’m four! It isn’t fair, I just want to be taken seriously for once,” he argued.

“Unfair? Unfair!? I’ve gave you the privilege to go out into the Fields, and THIS is your way of showing gratitude? You’re an unappreciative brat, you know that! I am THIS close of taking away ANY privileges you have!” He got up abruptly. Lancer whimpered, sweating bullets. 

“Well, what are you waiting for! Let’s go, we’re TRAINING. You’re going to learn your lesson, boy!” he stormed off, slamming the doors behind him. Lancer lost his appetite, and followed him shortly after. King was menacingly quiet as they traversed through the castle to the training room. Lancer should’ve prepared himself as soon as he stepped foot in the room, because Spades sent a flurry of spade-attacks at the child. He yelped in fear, running out of the way of the spade-bullets. 

He received an incredibly intense training session, getting several injuries and wounds. Fortunately, Rouxls found them and healed the damaged prince. 

“Why did you heal him!” King of Spades bellowed. 

“Well, he was damagedeth greatly throughout the entirest training session, sire. I always healeth him afterwards,” Rouxls justified.

“He acted overly childish and rude this entire morning! He doesn’t deserve any slack, you fool!” he blared.

“I knoweth, thine majesty, but Lancer hast not gotten much sleep. Perhaps he’s been experiencing nightmares,” he responded calmly. Spades stopped and considered this possibility, then puffed indignantly. He stomped out of the room, not saying another word. Rouxls smirked proudly, standing up. 

Lancer smiled and sniffled a bit, “Thanks, Lesser Dad.”

“Thou’re welcome, sire. Now, let’s geteth you in the bath,” they held hands as the Duke led him to the bathroom. 

A few hours past, and Lancer was walking around the Dark World, his spirits lifted. He made his way to the Portal Door and said, “Take me to the Fields.” He opened up the door and stepped in, the door shutting. He walked out and ran over to Seam’s shop, leaping inside and doing his pose once more, “Seapkeeper Seam! I request your presence!”

“I’m right ‘ere, Lancer. No need to shout,” Seam leaned against his counter, resting his arm on the top. Lance glanced up, putting his arms down, “Oh.”

“I’m guessing you’re back to talk, hm?” Seam predicted.

“Correct-a-mundo, my dear host!” Lancer stood on his toes, resting his arms against the tall table. 

“Heh heh heh, ‘correct-a-mundo’. Certainly been a while since I’ve heard that phrase,” Seam laughed. Lancer stuck his tongue out at him, grinning widely. “So what do you want to talk about, Lancer?”

“I wanna talk more about Jevil!” he patted his paws on the table.

A small smile curled onto his face at the request, “Alright, then. Let’s go in the back room and get comfortable.” He hobbled from his spot and led the way, entering the back room. Lancer piled up a bunch of pillows and blankets in the middle of the room and flopped on them. 

“Milk again?” Seam guessed, opening his fridge. 

“Yeah, and I want more of those sugar cookies!” Lancer cheered.

Seam chuckled, “I’m glad you like them. Thing is, I made some chocolate chip cookies in anticipation of your visit.”

“I’ll take both, then,” he rolled on his back, looking at him from an upside-down perspective. 

“Hmm...You sure you can handle that much sugar?” his ears twitched.

“Totally, I once binge-ate an entire tub of ice cream when I was younger!” Lancer said.

“...And what happened afterward?” Seam smiled, already expecting what he was going to say.

“I, uh, got a terrible brainfreeze and tummy ache and threw up,” he admitted.

“Thought so,” he chuckled, pulling out a paper plate, “I’ll just give you two sugar cookies and two chocolate chip cookies, does that sound good?”

Lancer sighed loudly, “Oh come on, I was five years old. I’m sure I can handle my sugar, now!”

“I’d rather not take the risk, Lancer,” he placed some of the treats on the plate, poured him a glass of milk, and levitated the items over to him. Lancer sighed dramatically and took a bite out of one of them. Seam hobbled over to his rocking chair and took a seat, exhaling deeply. 

“Are you okay?” Lancer asked, concerned for the cat’s health.

“Ah, just movin’ around nowadays takes a lot of energy for me,” Seam explained, shrugging it off.

“Oh,” he dipped one of the cookies in his glass of milk and ate it.

“So tell me, how was Jevil this time?” Seam moved a bit in his seat.

“Huh? Oh, he was being really weird and snatchy. He kept stealing my hoodie and gloves!” Lancer complained.

Seam chuckled, stroking the fur on his chin, “Ah, yes. He’s very skilled in the ‘art’ of pick-pocketing. He loved playing that trick on me, taking and hiding things from me. ‘Swas all in good fun, though. He never really stole from me.”

“What all did he usually snag from you?” Lancer set the cookies aside.

“Eh? Oh, typical house stuff. He’d hide away my tea cups, my performance outfit, sewing supplies, my wallet. Hell, one time he managed to steal my entire wardrobe! Hehe, that little demon was something, I tell you what.” He reminisced on his adventures with his little companion.

“I wanna see your performance outfit!” Lancer cried out with excitement.

“What? Kid, that thing has been put away in my closet for decades, now. I haven’t seen it ever since...” he drifted off.

“Since..?” Lancer got him back on track.

“Since...Well, you don’t need to know about that, sire,” he sighed.

“But I want to know,” Lancer persisted.

Seam rested his head on his paw, stroking his face, “No, Lancer. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Well, if it doesn’t matter, then what’s the harm?” Lancer countered.

“Lancer, please, let’s just drop that topic entirely,” Seam said briskly. Lancer groaned, flopping face first into the pillows. He said something, but his words were muffled.

“I beg your pardon, Lancer?” he leaned down a bit to see him. 

Lancer lifted his head, looking upset, “Why does everyone like to keep secrets from me?” he repeated.

“Well, I’m sure no one enjoys keeping you ignorant from the world, Lancer. They probably do so just to keep you safe mentally and physically,” he consoled him.

“What are they even keeping me safe FROM?” Lancer snapped.

“Yourself,” he muttered, “safe from yourself, Lancer.”

“What? Why would I hurt myself?” Lancer scooted closer to him.

“Well, I s’pose that came out wrong. I meant your curiosity, Lancer. You could get too curious and adventurous, and that could lead to pain and sadness,” he leaned back against his chair.

“...Did you get too curious?” Lancer perked up.

“Well, I guess you can say that, but Jevil…” he stopped speaking.

“What about him?” Lancer asked, but got no answer. He got closer and hugged Seam’s leg, “Seeeeaaam!”

“I’d rather leave it at that, Lancer, I’m sorry,” he gently nudged the desperate prince off. Lancer huffed angrily, and flopped backwards onto his pillow pile.

“Anything else you wanna talk about ‘cept that?” Seam asked, glancing down at the poor boy.

“Well...How did you and Jevil meet?” he lifted himself back up and sat in front of the disheveled cat.

“Hehe, you wanna know about that, hm? I met him by the riverbank, the Sparking Water River in the Scarlet Forest. I live in the western parts of that forest,” he chuckled.

“What else happened?” Lancer wanted more details.

“You want every detail, I see. Well, it happened about a century ago when we were young adults. I was heading here to work and I heard him singing down there. I went to check it out, and there he was. He was wrapped up in a bunch of towels and blankets ‘cuz it was raining,” he clarified.

“Oh,” Lancer breathed.

“Reason why he didn’t have any umbrellas or raincoats or anything like that was because he was a runaway renegade back then. He didn’t have a lot of things,” he pointed out.

“Oh yeah, Jevil kinda mentioned that when I was talking to him!” Lancer mentioned.

“Really? Did he tell ya what happened when he and his ‘freaks’ got caught?” he asked.

“I don’t think so, tell me!” Lancer clapped his paws together.

“Well, the lady that led the guards and whatever was the former Rules Card Darkner. Jevil told me he was up by the ceiling of the Red Top, so they didn’t spot ‘im. They got everyone just after Ring introduced the audience and did his usual thing, but they obviously didn’t get Jevil. He said that he cut a hole in the ceiling and climbed through, then ran like hell.” He chuckled to himself, “he always hated Ruulz Carde ever since.”

“That’s a lot to take in,” Lancer took a bite out of his cookie.

“Yeah, Jevil has a very...Entertaining backstory to say the least,” Seam agreed.

“What about you?” Lancer took another sip of his milk, gaining another milk mustache. 

“What about me?” Seam questioned.

“Your backstory,” Lancer said, wiping away the milk on his face.

“What all do you want to know?” Seam rested his head on his fist.

“Uh...Who were your parents?” he set the empty cup aside.

“My parents? My mother owned this shop and passed it on to me. My father was the court magician before me. I inherited both of their roles, the court magician and the shopkeeper,” he told him.

“I really want to know what your costume looks like, now!” Lancer whined. 

Seam sighed, shutting his eye, “ Maybe one of these days you can see it. All I know is that it’s somewhere hidden in my closet. Like I said, I haven’t seen it in over 100 years.” Lancer hunched over, defeated.

“Well, it’s getting late, you should start heading home,” Seam reminded. Lancer hopped off the floor, Seam rising from his chair. He led the boy to the entrance of his shop, and handed him his leftover cookies, “Have a nice evening, sire.”

Lancer ran off, waving, “Thanks for the cookies!”

Seam smiled, shaking his head, “He’s too sweet to be Spade’s kid.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter; I have chapter 6 in the works already and I'll post it as soon as it's done. <3


	6. Misdirections, Misdirections!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jevil begins teaching Lancer the ways of being a good misdirector.

Jevil waited patiently for his new friend to return. He rested on himself on his tail, humming a calm tune. He created spades, diamonds, hearts, and clubs and did little tricks with them to entertain himself. His ear perked up as he heard a familiar voice cry out from the beginning of the corridor, “I’m back, clown man!” 

Jevil reared over to the bars, “Welcome, welcome back, Lancer!” Lancer carefully raced down the flight of stairs, and jumped off the last few, this time nailing the landing. Jevil applauded, several spades flying into the air forming “10/10”. 

“I remembered to chug down a glass of chocolate milk, so I’ve got plenty of energy for tonight!” Lancer declared. 

“Wonderful, wonderful! What would you like to do tonight, tonight, little Lancer?” Jevil whooped. Lancer produced a pencil and several sheets of paper, “I brought this!”

“Ooo! Lovely, lovely! We can do so many things with these!” Jevil bounced around. Lancer sat down in front of the “freedom” bars, setting the paper and pencils beside him, “Hey, all of those holes you dug up are gone.”

“Oh, I fixed, fixed them!” Jevil answered with a careless shrug. He plopped down on the ground in front of the little pup, “So what game shall we play, play?”

“I was thinking we could play tic-tac-toe or something like that,” Lancer pushed the papers closer to the bars.

“Oh, I love tic-tac-toe! Seam and I are undefeatable champions of that game,” Jevil giggled.

Lancer acted like he wasn’t intimidated or jealous, “O-Oh yeah? Well, we’ll see about that!”

Jevil narrowed his eyes at him, doing an over-the-top, skeptical pout and leaned close to the bars, “Hmm…”

Beads of sweat dripped down Lancer, “What?”

“You’re not a very good, good misdirector, Lancer,” Jevil criticized.

“What? What’s a misdirector?” Lancer pushed himself away from the bars.

“Oh you know, tricks and misdirections! Making someone think something else when you actually mean something different!” Jevil was only being more cryptic. Lancer couldn’t tell is he was this ignorant and terrible at explaining things, or if he was saying that just to mess with him.

“Uh…” he thought for a moment, “Oh! You mean lying?”

Jevil cringed in disgust, “Ough! ‘Lying’ is such an ugly, ugly word, child! But yes, you can call it lying.”

“Oh...Hey, wait, I’m not a bad liar!” Lancer barked. 

“Denial, denial,” Jevil shook his head in disappointment, “you’re wrong, wrong! I can teach, teach you to be a great misdirector if you wish, my dear boy!” 

“How?” Lancer got a bit closer.

“Rule one to being a good deceiptor, you must add a little bit of truth to your tricks, tricks!” Jevil snagged the pencil and some paper and wrote that down. Lancer got close enough so he could see what he was writing.

“What do you mean?” Lancer asked.

“Hmm,” Jevil thought of a good example to use. “Ah!” a lit lightbulb appeared over his head, “Say your father asked what you were doing up, up last night, you could tell him that you were searching, searching for something!”

“Oh,” Lancer’s confidence slowly returned to him.

“Rule two of being a good misdirector!” he wrote down everything he said, “You must be confident, confident!”

“But I am confident!” Lancer crossed his arms. Jevil snatched up another sheet of paper, crumpled it up, and threw it at Lancer’s face, “Wrong, wrong!” Lancer snorted angrily, tossing the paper wad back at him. Jevil caught it with his mouth, a cheeky grin stretched across his face. 

“Gross,” Lancer muttered. 

Jevil spat it out and resumed with his lesson, “As I was saying, saying, you are not confident! I can see right, right through you! You must make your story believable, and YOURSELF believable, believable too!”

“Well how can I do that?” Lancer crossed his arms.

“Great, great question! For starters, keep eye contact if you’re trying to trick, trick someone!” Jevil stared directly into Lancer’s eyes, “Don’t stutter, fidget, or sweat; that’ll only make it more, more obvious!”

Lancer felt intimidated, but kept eye contact with his “mentor”, “Okay.”

“Secondly, keep your composure. Just carry yourself like you usually do, Lancer!” Jevil relaxed his body.

Lancer sat up, wiping the sweat off his brow, “Got it.”

“Great, great! Now, I want you to try to misdirect me, me, Lancer!” he scooted closer to the bars.

“What? But-.” 

Jevil interrupted him, “It's just practice, practice! Just say a random trick, whatever comes to mind!”

Lancer pondered for a moment, but shrugged his shoulders, “I can't think of one, and besides, there's no way my dad would fall for any kinda lie.” Lancer hunched down, feeling pitiful.

“Your dad, dad? Oh! I have the greatest, greatest idea! We should roleplay the scenario, scenario!”

“Roleplay?” he tilted his head, perplexed. Jevil's expression instantly switched from excitement and joy, to malice and utter shock. He dropped his arms, his jester hat drooping below his head, “You don't, don't know what roleplaying is?”

“Uh, no...Am I suppose to know?” Lancer's curiosity and guilt welled up in him. 

Jevil shook his head, “shaking off” his negative emotions, his hat perking up once more, “Oh, that's a shame, shame! Roleplaying is like make-believe! You act the ROLES of the characters you wish to PLAY! Role-play.” 

“Oh, make-believe! I used to play around like that, but dad always got mad at me for 'acting like a kid'. He made me stop doing that.”

“Well is your dad here to judge, judge you?” Jevil rested his head on his palm.

“No, he's asleep I think,” Lancer involuntary stuck his tongue out.

“Weeeeeellll?” Jevil harmonized.

“Well...Okay, let's do it!” Lancer smiled, ready to play make-believe like all those years ago.

Jevil clapped giddily, giggling quietly, “Alright, alright! I'll act as your father, father, and you'll be you!”

Lancer nodded and got into position; Jevil gave him a menacing scowl, crossing his arms and looking to him disapprovingly. Lancer was brought down by this look, but he reminded himself that it is just a game.

“Um, hi father,” he greeted. Jevil went to speak, but stopped himself, glancing up at his hat. He swiftly snatched off Lancer's hood and removed his hat, donning the boy's blue hood. Lancer could barely see his movements, he was practically a blur. Lancer pouted, sticking his tongue out at him. 

Jevil gave him a sly smile, then got back into character, “Lancer...”

Lancer held back some laughter since his little hood looked ridiculous on Jevil's head. His ears poked awkwardly at the hood and it was very lopsided. Jevil snapped his fingers, bringing him back to reality, smirking knowingly. 

“O-Oh, uh, right! Um...-.”

Jevil cut him off, “Why do you look so sleepy, boy? What have you been hiding?”

“Hiding? I haven't been hiding anything!” Lancer defended.

“Psst!” Jevil hissed, “Lancer, that is a no, no! Don't be all defensive when you first engage, engage! Remember, keep your composure and remain calm!”

“Huh? O-Oh...Okay. Let's ignore that part, then.” Lancer cleared his throat loudly, “I just haven't got a lot of sleep lately, Father.”

“And why is that?” Jevil tapped his gloved fingers against the floor.

A drop of sweat ran down Lancer's face, but he kept going, “Well I just...Been exploring a lot, lately.”

“Exploring? Exploring WHAT exactly?” Jevil growled.

“The castle, Father. I swear, I haven't stepped out of the castle during the night,” Lancer justified.

“Why have you been exploring, my son?” Jevil pressed him for more answers.

“I just...I've been really curious, lately. I'm just REALLY eager to grow up to become as big and strong and evil as you are! So I really want to explore further on, and I guess that me staying up past bedtime is me trying to...T-To..” Lancer bowed his head, trailing off. Jevil relaxed his body, surprised. 

Lancer heard clapping, and looked up. Jevil applauded him, beaming with pride, “Wowie! You were a great, great roleplayer, Lancer! You weren't that bad at misdirecting, too!” A melancholy smile grew on Lancer's face, his ears twitching. 

“Oh, come now, Lancer!” Jevil reached over through the bars, cupping his hand under his chin and raising the boy's head up, “Don't be so down, down! Take that frown and turn it upside-down!” Jevil turned, hanging upside-down from the bars, laughing wildly. Lancer's expression became sincere and joyful, chuckling a bit. Jevil landed on his feet, the bells on his head ringing. Lancer was now beyond confused. 

Jevil returned Lancer's hood to him, “I suppose you may want, want this back.”

“How did you even get your hat back on that quickly!” Lancer cried out.

Jevil flicked his snout, “A great, great jester never reveals his secrets!” Lancer snorted angrily, but adorably, and he pulled his hood back on. Jevil giggled haughtily, plopping in front of Lancer, “So, you challenged, challenged me to a game of tic-tac-toe?” Lancer smirked and nodded, drawing some lines on a sheet of paper.

About an hour and several scrapped sheets of paper later, they finished their game. “I win, win!” Jevil laughed. Jevil showed no mercy in tic-tac-toe, not letting him win a single game. Lancer threw a crumpled sheet of paper at him, and Jevil caught it with his mouth.

“Gross!” Lancer groaned. 

Jevil spat it out, his tail wagging with an air of pride, “How about another, another round, Lancer?” 

Lancer yawned, rubbing his eyes, “Actually, I think I should go to bed. The sugar rush is wearing off.” 

“Have sweet, sweet dreams, Lancer!” Jevil said, bouncing in place.

Lancer rose from his spot, gathering up the remaining papers and pencil. He turned his back to him, “Goodnight.”

“Well wait, wait a moment!” Jevil cut him short.

Lancer faced him, “What?”

“I've only taught you the basics, basics to misleading others! A word of advice for now, just deny, deny! Don't go overboard with it, though,” Jevil warned.

“Just deny,” Lancer repeated to himself, “okay.” Lancer trudged up the stairs, Jevil waving off to him happily. Lancer pulled out one of the cookies from his hood, and took a bite out of it. Jevil rested himself up on his tail, relaxing. He sniffed the air, a familiar scent hitting him, “Hm?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's almost 9 at night and it's finished. I hope you all enjoy it and I wish you all have a great day! <3


	7. How They Met

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Seam tells the curious boy more about his past.

Lancer rose from his bed, yawning and stretching his arms. After some washing up, he entered the Dining Halls, and took a seat in front of his father.

“You’re up at normal time, surprisingly,” Spades remarked.

“Yeah,” Lancer acknowledged, “I guess I got a good night’s rest.” A few servants hurried over and handed them their breakfast, bowed, then left. Spades sliced his omelet up into cubes and took a bite.

“I’ve received word that the castle residents got their pillows stolen,” Spades begun, “why is that?”

“What?” Lancer grimaced in worry, “When did they ask?”

Spades answered, “They told me last night, and said that the pillows have been missing for a few nights. Of course, I’ve corrected their behavior for them not telling me immediately.” A Ruddin Ranger is stuck in a large hole in the hallway walls, his tail sticking out miserably.

“Oh,” Lancer sighed.

“So tell me, do you know who this thief is? I know you’ve been particularly active lately, so you must’ve come across them, no?” Spades assumed.

 

Lancer remembered Jevil’s advice, to deny, and spoke, “No, I don’t know.” Spades narrowed his eyes at him, trying to tell if he was lying or not. Lancer used all of his willpower to not give in to the pressure.

Spades huffed in defeat and resumed with his breakfast, “When I DO find the thief, the consequences will be dire.” Lancer held back his fear and took a bite out of his sausage link, nodding. Fortunately, Spades didn’t press him for anymore answers. After a few minutes of enjoying breakfast, they walked onward to the training room. The royals continued on with their typical training session, Rouxls Kaard healing the prince in the end. The Duke led the child to the exit for him to wander around once more.

“Bye, Lesser Dad!” Lancer called out as he ran away. Rouxls waved him goodbye and returned to the castle.

Lancer jumped inside the cardboard shop and posed, “I’ve returned once again!”

“Welcome back,” Seam greeted.

Lancer took a few steps back, then dashed over to the counter and jumped up on it. He sat down in front of the surprised cat, a satisfied little grin on his face.

“Now you’re just showin’ off, Lancer,” Seam chortled.

“The training’s been paying off,” Lancer construed, crossing his legs in a criss-cross position.

“I can tell, but it’s not helping with your fat belly, though,” he poked Lancer abdomen.

“Hey!” Lancer yelled, swatting the cat’s paw away.

Seam laughed, “I’m just teasing you, Lancer.” Lancer blew raspberries at him, crossing his arms. Seam was entertained by his reaction, and rested his head on his fist, “Came back to talk about Jevil some more?”

This question got Lancer back on track, “Abso-positively-lutely!”

“If that's the case, let's go,” Seam grabbed his cane. Lancer pushed himself off the table, landing next to Seam. They entered the back room, and the old cat handed the prince some cookies and milk.

Sitting down onto his rocking chair, Seam asked, “So how was your visit with him?”

“It was pretty good, for the most part!” Lancer chirped, snagging a cookie.

“What all did you two goobers do?” Seam snickered.

“Well, I brought some paper and a pencil to do stuff with, and some things led to another, and he taught me how to lie!” Lancer seemed rather proud of his new “ability”.

Seam cleared his throat loudly, “You mean _misdirect?_ ” Seam smiled his bright pumpkin-glow smile.

“Yeah, yeah, ‘misdirect’,” Lancer rolled his eyes, grinning. “We even roleplayed about lying to give me some experience!”

“Roleplaying, hm? Heh, I remember he and I doing a bunch of improv and roleplays in our prime. Those were the days,” he commented.

“Man, I wish I was around when you two were younger. I bet you guys were super fun,” Lancer’s hood drooped a bit.

“Yeah,” Seam agreed, “but in Carde’s perspective, we were, and I quote ‘a couple of rule breaking, reckless, and irresponsible hooligans’.” He laughed quietly at those crazy days.

“Really? I imagine Jevil being all of those things, but not you,” Lancer said in disbelief.

“Eh, the two of us more or less responsible when it came to the stunts and magic. But for the most part, we were both different kinds of disasters in our own special ways.” Seam shrugged and smiled, snickering.

“Disasters how?” Lancer took another bite out of his cookie.

“Well, for one, Jevil wanted to do over-the-top, crazy stunts and performances. I, on the other hand, wanted to keep everything up to standard and with the rules, so much that it cause a bit of tension between us when we were planning for our next shows. Luckily, it didn’t take us long on finding an equilibrium for both of our ideas,” Seam replied.

“Equi...Eckwa...What?” the vocabulary Seam used went over Lancer’s head.

Seam laughed, “To put it in other words, we put together both of our ideas to create amazing and bedazzling shows.”

“Oh, I guess it makes sense,” he took a big gulp out of his milk.

“What else did you two do?” Seam brought the conversation back on track.

“Huh? Oh! After we did our little roleplay, we played tic-tac-toe! He, uh, beat me every time,” his snout scrunched up.

 

Seam smiled, “Heh, figured. He doesn’t hold back when it comes to games; neither do I. We’re both champions for pretty much any game you can think of. He and I are on an equal playing field, our games usually ended on ties. ‘Lot of the times, Darkners would gather ‘round and put bets on which one of us would win.”

  
“Who would win?” Lancer was intrigued.

“Eh, like I said, it usually ended in ties. A few times we ended the games when I win and vice versa,” Seam answered.

“What was your job like?” Lancer set his plate and cup aside, eager to listen.

“What was my job like?” he reiterated, “Well, it was full of fun and misadventures. On holidays or one of the monarch's birthdays, we'd set up special events and festivities. Heheh, on the first Halloween of being the court mage and jester, Jevil and I went all out.”

“I wanna know what happened!” Lancer bounced up and down excitedly.

“Well, we designed new, spooky-themed outfits for ourselves-.” Seam was cut short.

“What were your costumes?” Lancer interrupted.

Seam sniggered quietly, “Well, Jevil wore a gigantic, glowing jack-o-lantern on his head with black and orange color themed jester clothes, and I dressed up as a cat-vampire. I created an entirely different mask that had fangs just for the aesthetic.”

“Now I wanna see _those_ clothes as well,” Lancer whined.

“Hm, maybe one day, sire,” sighed Seam, “but as I was saying, me and Jevil turned the entire Spade Castle into a haunted house. I used my magic to create monsters and special effects, as well a huge dragon that stalked them. Jevil shapeshifted into various monsters, as well, and he chased them all over the place. We planned this all out, he'd turn into random terrifying monsters, and chase them into traps. Then, I create my dragon and have it 'eat' the monster-him, and repeat until they made it to the courtyard. We had tons of booths and games set up, a bunch of kids going around booth to booth trick-or-treating. Needless to say when the monarchs found out that no one was in danger, they were very relieved and a bit angry.”

“Wow, that sounds super fun!” Lancer cheered.

“It was very fun,” Seam confirmed.

“What else did you guys do?” Lancer rolled on his back, watching Seam from an upside-down perspective yet again.

“You gotta be a bit more specific, sire,” Seam accentuated.

“Uh...Ooh, what did you do for Christmas?” Lancer smiled gleefully.

“Christmas, hm? Well, Jevil and I orchestrated a play with several other Darkners. The play was the _A Christmas Carol_ , and he played one of the major roles. I did all of the special effects since I'm not too cut out when it comes to acting; even though he kept pressuring me to play a role.” Seam smiled sweetly at the pleasant memory.

“Man, you should've been one of the actors!” Lancer blurted.

“Lancer, I was doing all of the effects and everything. I had too much on my plate,” Seam contended.

“Uh huh...Or were you _scaaaaarrreeed_?” Lancer gave Seam an insulting smile.

 

Seam pouted, offended, “I was NOT scared, I just couldn't.”

“ _Suuuuurreee_...” Lancer crooned.

Seam relaxed and grinned, shaking his head, “That's just what Jevil said when I declined the role.”

 

“And he was right!” Lancer put his hands on his hips.

“You remind me an awful lot about him,” Seam remarked.

 

“Huh?” he set his arms down, “How?”

 

“Well for one, you both are wild, hyperactive, and funny,” Seam stated. “You're small like him, too, but just a bit shorter.”

 

“Hey! I’m not THAT short!” Lancer retorted.

Seam gave him a rude smirk, “Of course, my apologies.” Lancer stuck his tongue out at him, blowing raspberries. They decided to continue on with the conversation.

“You remind me of my dad,” Lancer added.

Seam frowned a bit, concerned, “I do? How?”

“You both are big and tall and scary-looking!” Lancer explained.

 

“Ah, I see,” Seam murmured, forcing a melancholic smile.

Lancer frowned, confused, “What? Did I say something wrong?”

Seam answered, “It’s not that nice to call people ‘scary-looking’, Lancer. It’s rude, others can’t help how they look. Well, shapeshifters can, but you get the point.”

“But it’s true! You have really dark purple fur, big, black fangs, and tears and patches! What’s there to NOT be afraid of?” Lancer countered.

“Well, you _are_ correct about that, but it’s still rude,” Seam’s disputed.

Lancer sighed loudly, “Okay, okay...I’m sorry.”

 

“Thank you for apologizing, sire, it means a lot to hear that...Especially from a Spade,” he gave him a teasing smile.

“What does THAT mean?” Lancer barked.

Seam shook his head, “Well what do you _think_ it means?”

“Seaaaam!” Lancer whined, hugging his leg. Seam guffawed, his tail stroking the side of the little pup’s face. Lancer’s snout wiggled at the strange sensation, and sneezed. “Anything else you want to talk about, Lancer?” he asked.

“Hmm…” he released the old cat’s leg, sitting back down, “Ooo! I wanna know how you and Jevil met!”

“Didn’t I already tell you, Lancer?” Seam recalled.

 

“I want all the details!” Lancer piped up.

“Hmm,” Seam hummed, stroking his fur, “alright. I’ll tell you the very first time he and I met.” Lancer bounced in place, filled with joy. Seam’s paw gleamed a radiant pink, and a large, magical “screen” formed.

“Woah!” Lancer gasped, scooting back to get a better look.

“Did I say tell you? I meant I’m going to SHOW you what happened,” Seam corrected, smirking wryly. Lancer sat back and watched the screen glow and reveal a young adult Seam walking down a dirt road.

“Is that you?” Lancer asked, pointing to Past-Seam. Seam nodded his head, paw still glowing brightly. “You have both eyes and arms! No tears, either!” Lancer exclaimed in awe.

“Shh,” Seam hushed, “just watch.” Past-Seam was humming a pleasant little tune to himself as he traveled down the road. The rain water flowed down from his large umbrella, Past-Seam creating muddy footprints in his trail.

He heard the same melody from the nearby pathway that lead to the Sparkling River, “Hm?” Taking cautious steps, he followed the song. His free paw glimmered a bright yellow, ready for an attack. He peered over, and beheld a pile of wet blankets and towels sitting by the bank. His paw returned to its normal shade, as he calmed himself.

“If you’re wondering, I thought it was some criminal or something, there aren’t that many Darkners around where I live at,” Seam mentioned.

“Makes sense,” Lancer agreed.

Past-Seam snuck behind the mass of cloth, squatting behind it. “Nice song you’re singing, stranger!” he complimented loudly.

“Eep!” the heap of blankets and towels jumped in surprise. Past-Jevil peeked out from his little hut, looking up to Past-Seam. His shock melted away, and he smiled widely, “Why hello, hello stranger, and thank you for the compliment!”

“What are you doing out here in the middle of a downpour? You’re going to get sick, you know,” Past-Seam questioned.

“Oh, no need to worry, worry! I have a strong, strong immune system!” Past-Jevil reassured.

“Really, now?” he straightened up slightly, holding out his paw, “I’m Seam, pronounced 'Shawm', and you?”

Past-Jevil seemed surprised at the gesture, but grinned happily and shoot his paw furiously, “I’m Jevil! Spelled like Devil, but with a J!” Past-Seam pulled his paw back, giggling at the little imp’s goofiness.

He rose up, making sure his umbrella was blocking the gremlin from the rain, “Where are you from?”

“Where I’m from, from? Why, Seam, I’m a traveler of sorts!” Past-Jevil proclaimed.

“A traveler, hm? Well, I’m traveling to my ‘seap’, you’re welcome to come with if you’d like,” Past-Seam invited, turning away from the imp.

Past-Jevil gasped vehemently, and sprung up from his spot, “Really? Truly, you’d let me follow, follow you!?”

“Really, really,” Past-Seam repeated, and lead the way. Past-Jevil jumped around enthusiastically, and ran after the tall cat. The large heap of blankets were piled on top of his head, dragging against the muddy ground.

Seam clenched his fist, the screen poofing out of existence, “Needless to say, he and I hit it off immediately.”

“Why did he have a bunch of quilts with him?” Lancer asked.

“Eh, he didn’t have a home before I met him, just that and the clothes on his back,” Seam rolled his wrist around, getting rid of the rid sensation of the spell being stopped.

“How old were you guys in that flashback video thingy?” Lancer got up and stretched from his spot.

“I was 23 and Jevil just turned 21 a few days before we crossed paths,” Seam answered. 

“Oh, okay,” Lancer glanced over to the clock, and narrows his eyes at it. It was an analog clock.

“It's 5:12 p.m., Lancer, in case you couldn't tell,” Seam answered.

“5 o'clock? I'm gonna be late for dinner!” Lancer cried out, grabbing the blankets and throwing them in the corners. Seam chuckled, watching the distressed boy scrambling to fix his mess. After a minute of seeing Lancer put his things away, Seam levitated a small stack of sugar cookies wrapped in plastic wrap over to him.

“Hm?” he turned and took the desserts, “Thanks!”

“Eat them responsibly, now,” Seam warned, “I don't want either of us to get into any trouble.”

“No promises!” laughed Lancer. Seam smiled and got back up on his feet, using his cane to help himself. The old cat shuffled behind the counter, waving to Lancer. Lancer raced out of the shop as fast as he could, “Thanks for the cookies, grandpa!” Seam laughed lowly at the terrible insult. After a moment of waiting, he sighed and rubbed his tattered face, “Something's terrible is gonna happen, I just know it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CHAPTER 7 INCOMING! 
> 
> Hello everyone! This is one of the longer chapters, spanning to 7 pages on the writing program that I use. I hope you all enjoy it, and have a wonderful time! 
> 
>  
> 
> P.S. I learned how to add italics and bold font into the fanfic!


	8. Cookies, Cookies!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancer returns to Jevil for more misdirecting lessons.

Lancer ran out of the elevator, “I’m back again!”  


“Welcome, welcome back, dear Lancer!” cried out Jevil from his freedom. Lancer descended down the long flight of stairs and landed in front of the bars. “How is my favorite little spade doing this fine night, night?”

 

“Pretty good, I got chicken nuggets and fries for dinner!” he plopped in front of the little imp.

 

“Sounds tasty, tasty!” Jevil floated upside down, “So how was the misdirecting, misdirecting?”

 

Lancer smiled proudly, “It worked really great, actually! My dad didn't suspect a thing! That roleplaying really helped, too.”

 

“Fantastic, fantastic!” Jevil spun around and landed on his feet, “How about we continue with our misdirection training session?” Lancer nodded excitedly in response. “Do you wanna role, roleplay another scenario, or do you want me to teach you the old, old fashioned way?”

 

“Old fashioned way?” Lancer asked.

 

Jevil rubbed his chin and pondered for a minute. “Ooo!” a lightbulb appeared over his head, “I know, I know! We could play, play another game, but this time, it'll be about misdirecting!”

 

Lancer crossed his arms and gave the goblin an annoyed pout, “Last time we played a game, I kept losing.”

 

“Oh, this one is not going to be about competing, competing!” Jevil waved his hands carelessly.

 

“Then what?” Lancer rested his arms.

 

“Seamy and I played this game a long, long time ago! It's called _2 Truths, 1 Untruth_ ,” Jevil explained.

 

“I never heard of that game before,” Lancer mentioned, “how do you play?”

 

“Well, we tell two things about ourselves that are true, true, and one that is untrue!” Jevil clapped his hands together.

 

“Two things that are true and one lie? Okay, I think I got it,” Lancer sat up straight.

 

“I'll go first, first!” Jevil cleared his throat and spoke, “My parents were born in the circus, Seamy and I played this game, game 72 times, and I hid Seamy's entire wardrobe from him on his roof!”

 

Lancer sat there motionless, glaring at him suspiciously, “Um...I'm gonna say the second one is a lie.”

 

“Wrong, wrong!” Jevil cackled, “Seam and I _did_ play this game several, several dozen times! My parents were never _born_ in the circus!”

 

“What!? Nuh-uh, you told me that they we-” Jevil held his hand up, interrupting the sour dog.

 

“Nope, nope! I never said _they_ were born in the circus. _I_ was born into it! They simply joined in on the fun when they were teenagers, teenagers,” Jevil corrected.

 

“Ugh!” grunted Lancer, “I knew you were gonna beat me!”

 

“This isn't about competition, competition, Lancer. This is about you learning about how, how to tell when someone is misdirecting!” Jevil reassured. “Now it's your turn, turn.”

 

Lancer calmed down and thought up of some things, “Okay. I once ate a lot of ice cream when I was five and got sick. I like to dig up holes everywhere, and one of the castle resident's foot got caught in it! Final one is I got stuck in an elevator before.”

 

“Hmm,” Jevil hummed, leaning close to the bars. He gave Lancer an overly-goofy suspicious expression, rubbing his chin. Lancer held back laughter, trying his best to keep his cool.

 

“Remove your hood, Lancer,” Jevil instructed.

 

“What, why?” Lancer gripped his hood tightly.

 

“So I can see your eyes, eyes, dear Lancer,” Jevil leaned closer.

 

“You can see my eyes just fine!” Lancer pushed himself back. Jevil held up his hand, holding Lancer's blue hood. He snickered quietly at Lancer's shock.

 

He felt around on his white head, eyes wide, “How?!”

 

“The last one was a lie,” he ignored Lancer's question.

 

Lancer snorted angrily, hunching over, “Yeah, the last one's a lie. A Head Hathy was with me when the elevator got stuck.”

 

“You're not allowed to use the elevator, elevator alone, right?” Jevil asked.

 

“What? How do you know that?” Jevil tossed back Lancer's hood to him, and he pulled it back on.

 

“I didn't know, _you_ just told me!” Jevil pointed to him.

 

Lancer sighed begrudgingly, nodding, “Okay, fair enough, yeah. I-I'm...Not allowed to take the elevator by myself.”

 

“And why not, not?” Jevil sat up, curious.

 

“They don't trust me, they think I'm not young enough to travel around by myself,” he confessed.

 

Jevil did a hand-stand, giving him a silly smile, “Oh don't be so down, down, Lancer! We still have a lot of the game to play!” Lancer straightened himself back up, nodding. Jevil got back down onto the ground and they continued with their game. After a half hour, they ended their little "training session".

 

“You did wonderfully, wonderfully, Lancer!” Jevil complimented.

 

“Break time!” Lancer said, reaching under his hood and pulling out the stack of sugar cookies. Jevil's expression shifted from joy to shock and realization.

 

Lancer held out the largest cookie, offering it to his mentor, “Take it.” Jevil reached out through the bars and awkwardly took the cookie from him. With a trembling hand, he removed his gloves and held the dessert close to himself.

 

“This is Seamy’s cookie,” he muttered.

 

“Yeah, Seam gave me a bunch of them at my last visit with him,” Lancer didn’t hesitate to shove a cookie into his mouth.  


Jevil’s tail wagged to and fro, “I knew, I knew I recognized that smell!”

 

“Huh?” Lancer took another bite from a cookie. Jevil removed the cloak off himself and set it on the ground. He focused all his energy onto the treat, and his hands glowed a dark magenta. His delicacy was encased with the same aura, and it duplicated.

 

Lancer gasped, “Woah, cool!” Jevil bounced in place, laughing giddily. He continued with the spell until he created a large heap of cloned sugar cookies piled onto his cloak. He set the original cookie onto his lap, and ate one of the clones.

 

“How were you able to do that?” Lancer asked, trying his best to keep his jealousy to a minimum.

 

“Seamy taught me that trick, trick!” Jevil replied in a dreamily manner.

 

Lancer snickered at the silly nickname, “Seamy?”

 

Jevi’s eyes darted away, “What? What’s so funny about the name?”

 

“It’s just funny to me,” defended Lancer, “when’d you even start calling him that?”

 

“Oh, for a long, long time now; ever since I-” he caught himself before he said anything else, his cheeks blushing.

 

Lancer set the stack of cookies down, “Ever since _what?_ ”

 

“Ever since nothing, nothing!” Jevil waved his hand around turning his head away.

 

Lancer jumped up and pointed to him frantically, “Ah! You’re lying!”

 

“I am not tricking, tricking you, boy!” Jevil crossed his arms defensively, “And you know how much I hate the ‘L’ word!”

 

“Liar! You’re blushing and not even looking at me!” Lancer pointed out.

 

Jevil’s eyes widened as he felt his very warm face and ears. He wheezed loudly and cloned his cape quickly, pulling it over his head. “I don’t, don’t know what you’re talking about!”

 

“You aren’t telling the truth, and you know it! Now tell me what you were about to say! Ever since WHAT?” Lancer barked.

 

“That’s none, none of your business!” Jevil pointed to the enraged boy, cape still covering his head.

 

Lancer was caught off guard at the statement, “Wh-..Yes it is!”

 

“No it’s not!” Jevil argued.

 

“Yes it is!” Lancer stomped his foot on the ground

 

“No, no it isn’t!” Jevil stood up.

 

“Is to!” Lancer marched over to the bars.

 

“Is not!” Jevil suspended himself on the tail. They continued this back and forth until Lancer ended it.

 

“Yes it is! I am your prince, so I _demand_ to know what you were going to say!” Lancer yelled. Jevil paused for a second, and slowly pulled the cape off. He smiled snarkily, resting his arm on his knee.

 

“I am a wild, wild card, Lancer. I don’t have to follow any of your rules, rules,” Jevil declared calmly.

 

“What? Just because you’re a wild card doesn’t mean you don’t have to follow rules!” asserted Lancer.

 

“I can do anything, Lancer! So that means, I don’t have to follow any, any of your rules or demands!” Jevil smiled wickedly.

 

Lancer growled and screamed, “I don’t care what you say! I’m your superior and you’re just a clown, so you tell me right now!”

 

Jevil pursed his lips and crossed his arms, fully facing the kid, “No.”

 

“Yes!” Lancer shouted.

 

“No!” Jevil hollered. They continued to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ until Jevil broke the cycle.

 

“Yes,” Jevil giggled.

 

“No!” Lancer screamed, then caught himself, “Wait…” Jevil laughed triumphantly jumping and bouncing around.

 

“I don’t have to tell you anything, anything!” Jevil cackled.

 

“Ah-...Hey, that doesn’t count!” contended Lancer.

 

“Yes it does, it does! You said no, so that means I can say nothing!” Jevil disputed, “After all, you said you’re my superior, superior!”

 

Lancer whined loudly and fell back first on the floor, “Fine then, don’t tell me.”

 

“Oh don’t, don’t worry, Lancer. I don’t plan to,” he said in a mocking tone.

 

Lancer snorted bitterly and rolled onto his side, “I’m just sick and tired of _everyone_ keeping secrets from me!” Jevil’s stopped smiling and he landed, now feeling guilty.

 

Jevil sighed pathetically, his hat drooping as he sat down, “Look, I just can’t, can’t  tell you.”

 

“Whatever, I don’t want to hear it! You’re just gonna say ‘Oh, you’re too young to know, Lancer’ or, ‘I’ll tell you when you’re older, Lancer’,” he growled.

 

“No, that’s not the case, case,” Jevil mumbled.

 

Lancer sat up, “Then what’s the problem?”

 

“It…” Jevil blushed brightly, “It’s just too, too embarrassing!”

 

“Seriously? I’m not going to tell anyone or anything,” Lancer reassured him.

 

Jevil pulled his legs close to his chest, resting his head on his knees, “Oh, I know how you act, act, Lancer. You’ll just go and tell Seam, Seam how I feel, feel about him.”

 

Lancer grumbled, “I knew it. I knew you were gonna make up a stupid excuse.”

 

“It’s not, not an excuse, Lancer!” Jevil cried out. Lancer looked into Jevil’s eyes, embittered. Lancer finally bowed his head, Jevil was being sincere.

 

Jevil took a deep breath and spoke, “Look, I _might_ tell you once I trust, trust you enough to keep a secret this big, big!”

 

Lancer felt assured, “Okay, I’ll make sure to gain all of your trust.”

 

Jevil smiled sheepishly and got off of the ground, “Well I think it’s time for you to go, go to bed, Lancer.”

 

Lancer yawned and stretched his arms, “Yeah, I think you're right. Bye, clown guy!” He packed his things and ran up the stairs. Jevil fell down, groaning loudly.

 

He huffed lowly, staring up at the ceiling, “What am I going to do, do?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, everyone! This has been a very busy month for me, and I celebrated my birthday recently. Thank you all for waiting for this chapter, and I hope you all enjoyed it.


	9. Affection Investigation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancer tries to figure out what Jevil is feeling.

Lancer and King sit down at their dining table and waited for their meals. Two servants walked over and handed them their silver platters covered in breakfast foods. Lancer got cereal and milk, some donuts, and sausage links. His father's meal consisted of oatmeal, an omelet, some bagels, coffee and bacon. Lancer took a bite out of his donut, and thought of a way to ask about his confusion with Jevil's secret.

Lancer took a sip of milk, “Father?”

“What?” he asked bluntly, cutting his omelet up into slices.

“Uh...How would you try to get a secret out of someone?” he took a bite out of his cereal.

“I'd force it out of them,” he explained, and ate some of his food.

“I meant _without_ trying to hurt them,” Lancer tried to clarify.

Spades glared at Lancer, staring him in the eyes, “Is this, perhaps, _your_ way of trying to tell me something?”

Lancer remained as calm as ever, “I don't have any secrets to hide. Yesterday, I saw a Darkner and he said that he had feelings for someone.”

“Feelings, huh? Probably hatred and malice,” he drank his coffee.

“Oh,” he said, disappointed, “I mean, that _could_ be a possibility, but the way he was talking about that person, I don't know.”

“You just don't know, then,” Spades argued. “Like I said, this subject of ours most likely hates someone else.” Lancer rolled his eyes at the stupid argument. After a few minutes, they finished their breakfast and headed to the training room. They stood on opposite sides of the area, King's stomach-mouth opening up and producing the spade-chain.

Spades gripped it, and got into battling position, “Today, we're going to work on your evasion and dodging. Don't counter any of my attacks, just bob and weave!”

Lancer nodded and gave him a thumbs up, “Got it!” His father sent rows of spade-attacks toward Lancer, and the boy got ready. He ran and slid under the lowest rows, and got up quickly. Columns of spades stormed down onto him, and he moved around in circles. He nearly got struck by some of them, and he lost balance. King whipped his spade-chain at his son, striking him in the back.

Lancer came tumbling down, “Oof!” Dozens of spades formed at the ceiling, and dashed down at the child. He gasped and rolled away. He jumped back up and dodged most of them. Some of them jabbed him in the foot and scraped his back. Lancer adjusted his hoodie and got prepared for the next round. King took a step back and swiped his hand toward himself, giving Lancer an evil smirk.

Lancer stood there, not seeing anything. Several attacks hit him from behind, knocking him over once more, “Agh!” The spades stopped and turned back to the hurt boy, targeting him. Lancer pushed himself out of the way and sprung back up.

“You let your guard down and you didn't check your surroundings, Lancer. Never stay flat-footed during a fight, and be cautious during battle,” King criticized. Lancer spat out some blood and readied himself for the next attack. King was impressed by his kid's determination and stubbornness, but he still kept his stone-cold expression.

He whipped his spade-chain at Lancer, and the prince swiftly moved out of the way. The chain dashed over to him, and he jumped over it. King grabbed his chain, nodding proudly. Lancer smiled happily, then was struck upside the head with another spade. He fell face first, all of his pride and confidence gone. Rouxls entered the room, forcing a satisfied smile. King headed toward the exit, “Don't let others deter you from battle. Whether it be conversation, stupid gestures, or smiles.”

Lancer sighed quietly into the ground, rolling onto his back. Rouxls restored his health and handed him a fresh pair of clothes.

Lancer got back up and took the clothes, “Thanks.” Rouxls led him back to his room and Lancer changed into his cleaned clothes. The Duke waited for him outside of his room, and the boy finally exited his bedroom. They strolled through the castle, Kaard leading the way.

“Hey, Lesser Dad?” Lancer looked up at him.

Rouxls huffed exasperatedly at the name, “Yes?”

“Say if...Someone told you that they have feelings for somebody else,” Lancer said, “what do they mean by that? Do they hate someone or..?”

“Feelingst, hm? Perhaps, they mayst haveth _romantic_ feelings for Someone elseth,” he proposed.

“Romantic feelings?” Lancer repeated.

“Aye,” he nodded his head, “whenst I was a younge child likest thou, one of my friendse harbored romantic feelings for anothere.” Lancer considered this possibility, but he was still very unsure.

“Okay,” he muttered.

“Why doth thou asketh?” Rouxls questioned.

“Oh, I just met someone that told me that,” misdirected Lancer.

“Whomst?” he pressed him for more details.

They arrived at the castle exit, “Oh, we made it to the door. Guess I gotta go, bye Lesser Dad!” He ran away from the confused man. He shook his head, walking back inside, “Kids these days, I sweareth.”

Lancer jumped inside Seam's shop, “I'm back!” He paused and was taken aback by the sweet aroma of freshly baked cookies.

“I'm back here, sire,” Seam croaked lowly from the back room. Lancer walked inside the back room and looked around. On the counter rested a hot sheet pan covered in cookies of various types.

“Oooh!” he sprinted over to the counter and reached over, but Seam stopped him.

“They just came out of the oven, Lancer. They're still very hot,” the old man warned. Lancer decided not to mess with them, and instead he watched Seam mash some kinda jam in a bowl. He stirred the spoon around, and levitated another dark candy over it. He clenched his fist the the candy was basically liquefied into some kind of jam. It poured into the large bowl as Seam continued to blend it all together.

“What are you making?” Lancer asked.

“Some jam for a cake I plan on bakin',” he explained, “it goes great on top it.”

“Sweet!” he patted his paws on the table joyfully. Seam chuckled at the unintentional pun.

“Care to help me?” he pushed the bowl over to Lancer. The boy had to stand on his toes to fully reach over to it, and he snagged it off the counter. He mixed the jam around and watched Seam levitate all the ingredients to bake a cake onto the table. The ragdoll prepared the cake rather quickly for his age, and poured the mixture into two cake pans. He slid the pans in the oven with his magic, and limped over to his chair. Lancer pulled the spoon out of the bowl and licked the jam off of it.

“How does it taste?” Seam sat down on his rocking chair.

“It tastes delicious!” Lancer pushed the bowl back on the table.

Seam smiled sweetly, “I'm glad you like it.” Lancer took a few steps back and tossed the spoon in the sink. He gathered up several pillows and blankets from around the room and piled them in front of Seam. He flopped belly first into on, appreciating the softness of them.

“How was your adventure with Jevil last night?” He rocked back in forth in his chair slowly.

Lancer remembered about their little feud last night, and furrowed his brow, “Actually, I need to ask you something about him.”

“Go ahead,” Seam looked down onto him.

“Well, when I shared some of my cookies with Jevil, he kinda...Freaked out. I asked him what was wrong and everything, and he got really nervous and was blushing a lot,” he explained. Seam felt warm and fuzzy on the inside, rather surprised that Jevil was acting such a way.

“...Go on,” he smiled his bright, glowing smile.

“And he...Said that he had some kinda feelings for you and stuff. I had to bend the truth to my dad and Lesser Dad to see what they had to say about it. My dad said that he probably hates you, and Lesser Dad said that he might have a crush on you,” Lancer continued.

Seam's button eye glimmered in the lantern lights, and he couldn't help but blush. His thick fur covered his face, so Lancer couldn't really tell.

He cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly, “That was certainly...A lot to take in.”

“I know, right!” Lancer agreed, “I still don't know who's right and whatever, and I dunno what Jevil's deal is.”

“Well, I guess it doesn't really matter,” Seam shrugged it off, trying to get his mind off of all that.

“It _does_ matter! Jevil is pretty much my only friend, and I'm worried about him,” Lancer retorted. Seam frowned, looking the other way. The old Darkner sighed and nodded, not in the mood to explain what he meant. A few minutes of awkward silence went by, both of the Darkners thinking about different things.

Seam smirked sadly, “I think I know how Jevil feels.”

“What? How does he feel?” Lancer sat up excitedly.

Seam smiled snarkily, “That's for you to figure out on your own, sire.”

“Ugh!” Lancer groaned, “Why can't anyone give me a clear answer!”

“Sire, everything won't be handed to you on a silver platter for the rest of your life. You have to learn and figure out things on your own, not everyone is going to hold your hand and guide you through life, you know,” Seam justified.

Lancer whimpered, bowing his head, “Yeah, I guess you're right.”

Seam's tail lifted Lancer's head up, “Am I ever wrong?”

Lancer sneezed at the tickling sensation of Seam's fur on his face, and giggled a bit, “I dunno, I haven't been around you long enough.”

Seam chuckled and shifted in his seat, “Alright, I think the cookies had enough times to cool down.” Lancer didn't hesitate to run over and take several of them. He fell back down onto the pile of pillows and blankets, and took a bite out of one of the sweets.

Seam stroked his whiskers, trying to think of something to say, “Hm...How about I show you another one of my memories?”

Lancer gasped eagerly, “Yeah!” Seam smiled and raised his paw up. He hand glowed a bright pink, and the same large, magical screen appeared. It showed Past-Seam and Past-Jevil heading down the same dirt path.

“Is that the place?! Is it, is it!?” squealed Past-Jevil.

“Mhm,” hummed Past-Seam. Past-Jevil couldn't wait any longer, and dashed past his new friend.

“When is all this?” Lancer asked. Seam shushed him and told him to keep watching

Past-Seam was startled by the gremlin's speed, “Wait, Jevil-!” Past-Jevil crashed face first into an invisible force field surrounding the cabin. He fell down, stars circling around his head; Lancer laughed at the goblin's goofiness. Past-Seam cringed and rushed over to the goblin.

He knelt down and helped him up, “I was about to tell you I have a magical barrier protecting my home.”

Past-Jevil merely giggled in response, shaking his head, “It's fine, fine! I'm very, very durable!” He sprung up from the cat's grip and landed on his tail. Past-Seam stood up and pressed his hand against the force field.

A large doorway was opened out of it, and the host stepped out of the way, “After you.” Past-Jevil hopped to the wooden door and opened it. Past-Seam followed shortly behind, the force field sealing shut behind him. Past-Jevil's eyes lit up as he jumped inside.

He laughed and bounced around, “This is your house, house?”

Past-Seam grinned solemnly, “Yeah...It belonged to my parents, and I haven't had enough time to fully change all of-.”

“It's gorgeous, gorgeous, Seam!” Past-Jevil spun around in the center of the room.

Past-Seam's ear twitched in surprise, “Really? Whenever I have guests they always comment on the old-school aesthetic.”

“Well I think this place looks beautiful, beautiful!” he complimented.

“Jev, you've only seen the living room,” Past-Seam reminded.

Past-Jevil bounced around the room, cackling erratically, “There's more, more!?”

“Well, of course there's more. There's gotta be rooms to cook in, bathe, and sleep, right?” explained Past-Seam.

Past-Jevil paused midair and landed on his feet, “Well I guess, guess so, but I don't really know.”

Past-Seam raised his eyebrow in confusion, “You don't know?”

“Yep, yep! I was raised in the circus, so I don't, don't know what those things really look like,” Past-Jevil clarified.

Past-Seam pulled his coat off and set it on the coat rack, “I thought you were kidding when you told me that.”

“I may joke a lot, lot, but I was indeed raised in the circus!” Past-Jevil bounded over to Past-Seam.

“Huh, woulda never guess,” Past-Seam mumbled. He cleared his throat loudly and said, “Well, might as well show you around.” Past-Jevil smiled brightly and followed his host. They walked down the hallway and the purple cat pointed out which rooms were which.

“Hm,” he eyed the blankets and towels that was stacked on top of the imp, “hey, I have old clothes when I was a child. Maybe you can fit in those.”

“You're offering, offering me your clothes, clothes?” Past-Jevil couldn't even comprehend this act of generosity.

“Well, my _old_ clothes, but yes,” Seam grinned kindly.

Past-Jevil's eyes glimmered and his giggles turned into excited laughter, “Well what are we waiting, waiting for? Let's go!” He gripped Past-Seam's paw and dashed into the master bedroom. The Darkner's button eyes widened at the enthusiasm and speed, but he managed to keep up. Past-Seam pulled his paw away and walked to his closet. He pulled out a wood chest from the corner of the small room and opened it up. Inside was dusty and small clothes of various shapes, sizes, and colors.

The imp hovered above him and peeked inside. Past-Seam glanced up at him and pulled out an old hoodie and sweatpants. His paws glimmered a deep blue, and all of the dust on the clothes “poofed” away.

“Ooo!” Past-Jevil cooed, “Nice trick, trick, Seam!”

“Thanks, my father taught me that one when I was a little kid,” Past-Seam mentioned. He handed the clothes over to the curious gremlin, “Here, try those on.” Past-Jevil didn't hesitate to take the clothes and run to the nearest bathroom to change. Past-Seam chuckled and got off the ground, dusting himself off. He sat down on his giant cat bed and waited for the little gremlin to return.

Past-Jevil ran back in, wearing his new clothes, “It's very comfy, comfy!” The hoodie on the jacket was pulled over his head and the sweatpants reached past his ankles.

“Heheh, it looks kinda big for you,” Past-Seam commented.

“They are, are, but they're quite cozy and warm,” Past-Jevil giggled.

“Well, I'm glad you like them,” Past-Seam smirked, relieved, “even though they're still a bit big on you.”

“I've always been a bit of a small fry in my life, life,” Past-Jevil walked over and hopped up on the bed beside the cat.

“Is that so?” Past-Seam asked sarcastically.

“Yes, yes,” Past-Jevil nodded his head, “but I must admit, admit I've put on a few pounds, pounds, recently.”

Past-Seam snickered, “I can tell.” Past-Jevil stuck his tongue out at him childishly, Past-Seam snickering at him. His ears suddenly twitched in realization, “Wait, I haven't showed you the kitchen, have I?”

Past-Jevil's eyes sparkled at the statement, “You have a kitchen, kitchen, too?”

“Yeah,” Past-Seam got up from his bed, “gotta have a place to cook stuff, right?”

Past-Jevil jumped off, “I guess, guess so!”

Past-Seam lead the goblin up the hall and to his kitchen, “And here it is.”

“Ooo! It's really roomy and big in here!” Past-Jevil shouted, “Ooh, and lots and lots of cabinets, too!”

Past-Seam chuckled at the enthusiasm, “Yeah, to hold all the dishes and stuff.” Past-Jevil sprung up onto the counter and opened up several cabinets, observing what was inside.

“Careful up there, Jevil, don't break anything,” Past-Seam warned. Past-Jevil turned around and landed on the floor. “Hmm,” he hummed, “do you like tea?”

“I really don't have a preference when it comes to beverages, beverages,” Past-Jevil replied, shuffling over to the cat. Past-Seam pulled out a tea kettle and a few tea bags, and filled the kettle up with water. Past-Jevil plopped onto the ground and watched the host's graceful movements. After a few minutes, Past-Seam poured some tea into a couple of matching cups.

“They're hot, so be caref-.” Past-Seam was cut short by his comrade snagging up one of the cups and talking a large gulp out of the tea. Past-Jevil yelped and dropped the cup back onto the counter, opening his mouth and waving at his tongue.

“Hot! Hot hot, hot hot hot!” he bounced up and down in place, waving his hands at his face.

“Ah, Jevil!” Past-Seam gasped. He grabbed another cup and filled it up with cold water. He handed the water over to the gremlin, and he chugged it all down.

He sighed loudly in relief, setting the cup onto the table, “Thanks, thanks, Seam.”

“You're welcome, but be careful next time,” Past-Seam's paws glowed an icy blue aura, and he gripped the goblin's teacup. The tea inside cooled down and Past-Seam handed the cup back over.

Past-Jevil was bedazzled and amazed at the ability, “That was amazing, amazing!”

Past-Seam held back any purring and smiled proudly, “Thank you.” Past-Jevil took a sip out of his tea, and his tail wagged merrily.

“It's quite tasty, tasty,” he complimented. Past-Seam grinned and took a sip out of his own tea. Past-Jevil giggled and hopped onto the counter to be eye-level with the feline. Past-Seam relaxed himself onto the table as the two exchanged pleasantries.

Seam clenched his fist and the screen fizzled away, “I'll leave it there.”

“All _that_ came from your memories?” Lancer asked in disbelief.

“Yes. I may be old, but I have a perfect memory,” Seam replied casually.

“Man...” grumbled the jealous prince, “I wish I could do that.”

“Maybe you can learn that ability someday, Lancer,” Seam instilled some hope into the prince.

“You really think so?” Lancer's tail wagged. Seam nodded his head, giving him a reassuring grin.

He rose from his chair, legs trembling slightly, “Alright, it's time for you to go.” Lancer sprung up from the ground and cleaned up his mess. Seam hobbled over to his counter and Lancer walked over to the doorway.

“Bye Seam, thanks for the cookies!” Lancer waved to him.

“Nice talking to you again, Lancer. Come back soon, now,” Seam rested against the table. Lancer ran out of the shop, heading back home as fast as he could. Seam tapped his claws on the counter-top, his face blushing a deep purple. “I've always got in inkling that Jevil was gay, but I'd never expect he'd have the hots for someone like _me,_ ” he muttered to himself, covering his face with his paw.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
> 
> AFTER 10,000 YEARS
> 
> CHAPTER 9 IS DONE!
> 
> I'm so sorry for the hiatus, everyone, I've been on spring break and on burnout recently. Fortunately, I got inspiration back and here is Affection Investigation! I hope you all enjoyed this and once again, I apologize for me ghosting everyone.


	10. Uncle Jevil

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancer returns to Jevil once more

The King of Spades and his son sat down at the dining table and waited for their food. Servants rushed in as soon as they got comfortable and handed them their meals.

Spades took a sip out of his beverage and asked, “So what have you learned?”

“Learn what?” Lancer took a bite out of his pizza.

“About that Darkner you were bothering me about this morning,” Spades clarified.

“Oh..! Well, I asked around a little bit, and Rouxls told me that the Darkner may have a crush on that person.”

“That's a stupid conclusion,” insulted Spades, “love is for the weak. You best remember that, Lancer.”

Lancer frowned and slurped down some of his milk, “I know, don't get too attached.”

Spades nodded his head and took a bit out of his meatloaf, “Whoever that Darkner is, is weak. If the Duke _is_ correct about what he is feeling, then that pathetic Darkner is a fool.” Lancer held his anger and spite in, and continued to eat his food.

 

After a few hours, Lancer prepared himself for the night. Setting his timer to four hours, he slid the device under his pillow and drifted off to sleep.

 

Jevil balanced the sugar cookie on his finger, humming a soft tune to himself. His ear twitched when he heard the elevator doors open and a friendly voice cry out.

“I'm back, Jev!” yelled Lancer.

“Welcome back, back, my dear boy!” Jevil squealed. Lancer bolted down the stairs and landed on the floor, an echoing thump ringing out throughout the hallway. Jevil applauded his little feat, floating over and sitting down in front of the bars. Lancer took a seat in front of the goblin, but looked over behind him.

“How many times did you clone that cookie?” he asked, amazed at the mountain of sugar cookies resting by one of the walls.

“Hmm...I think there are 1,365 sugar, sugar cookies over there. So about that many, many times!” Jevil answered.

“Jeez, you really love those cookies, don't you?” Lancer commented, looking back to the gremlin.

“Yep!” he squeaked, his tail wagging back and forth.

“Me too, they're really delicious!” Lancer agreed, smiling widely.

“Indeed, indeed!” Jevil teleported a cookie into his grasp and ate it within seconds.

“Hmm,” Lancer hummed, staring at the imp. Jevil's face felt hot, his heart racing. _Please don't ask what I think you're going to ask,_ he thought to himself.

“What do you usually do when I'm gone?” Lancer questioned, much to Jevil's relief.

“I usually do nothing, nothing until you return.” Jevil shrugged carelessly, “I occasionally do some tricks, tricks with my magic, but that's about it.”

“Ooo! I wanna see you do magic tricks,” Lancer howled.

“Hmm...Alright, alright!” Jevil raised his hand up, and several spades flew to the ceiling and formed the name “LANCER”.

The prince clapped and yelled, “That spells my name!”

“Yes it does,” Jevil snapped his fingers and all of the spades vanished. Lancer stuck his tongue out and focused. He aimed his hand up to the ceiling, and only a single spade formed. Jevil watched curiously of what the young prince was trying to accomplish. Only a few more spades appeared next to it, but Lancer lost his magical grip on them. They all crashed down around him and Lancer yelped in fear, covering his head with his arms.

“Ugh, dang it!” Lancer hit the ground with his fist, “It's not fair!”

Jevil frowned and sat back up, “What isn't, isn't fair, Lancer?”

“I just _suck_ at my stupid magic!” shouted Lancer, “I'm a _spade!_ A Jack of Spades of all things! All of this should come easy to me but it doesn't! How come you can do that awesome trick, but I can't?”

“Well Lancer, everyone learns at their own pace, pace; even _I_ had difficulty mastering a lot of my magic, magic!” Jevil admitted.

Lancer's jaw dropped at the statement, “Really?”

Jevil nodded his head, “Yes, yes. It was...” Jevil's cheeks turned to a dark periwinkle and his ears pulled back, “...Rather _embarrassing_ to say the least.”

“What magic stuff were you bad at?” Lancer got closer to the prison bars.

Jevil cleared his throat awkwardly, “Let's just say I really, really sucked at trying to create heart and club suits.”

“Do you still suck at it?” Lancer asked.

Jevil scoffed loudly, waving his hand carelessly, “Of course not, not! I trained and I trained, and with the help of Seam, I mastered them in no time.”

Lancer stuck his tongue out, annoyed, “Good for you,” he grumbled jealously.

Jevil didn't understand Lancer's annoyance with him, “What, what? Did I say, say something to upset you?”

“No one else helps me with my magic except my dad, and he trains unfairly!” Lancer confessed, “He always shows _no_ mercy during training combat, and no type of encouragement; when he _does_ it's just fake joy until he smacks me upside the head with another spade or his dumb second tongue! It's unfair! _So_ many other Darkners receive fair training sessions like you, but not me!" Lancer's lip trembled as he whined, "I-I don't get it, what did I ever do wrong?”  He sniffled and cried, leaning against the bars, “Why is he so harsh to me?”

Jevil was taken aback from all of this, but he reached out to him. He stuck his arm through the bars and wiped Lancer's tears away, “Oh, Lancer, I know how you feel.”

Lancer made a sour expression and swatted the imp's hand away, “No y-you don't! You can do so many crazy things, but I can't.”

“I meant I know what it's like to be treated unfairly,” Jevil clarified, “people may think being born and raised in a circus would be all fun, fun and games, but it's not really.”

Lancer glanced up at the goblin, perplexed, “You're kidding, right?”

Jevil shook is head, “Not at all, not at all. Many of my fellow freaks were very harsh to one another. Ring was _especially_ nasty toward all, all of us! He forced us to commit petty crimes, crimes for the sake of greed. He would always lash, lash out at us or scream at us if we ever, ever stepped out of line; even if it was a very, very small mistake or change of things!”

Lancer rubbed his nose, “Sounds a lot like my dad.”

Jevil nodded in agreement, “Indeed, indeed. Despite all of that harsh, harsh treatment, I wouldn't let his drama and anger get the best, best of me. That same logic applies to you, you, Lancer! You need to stay determined, that's how I got through life, life! I swear to you, determination and mental strength, strength can get you a long, long way in life!”

Lancer's tail wagged happily, “You really think so?”

“ _Think_ so? Boy, I know, know so! Just take it from me, me, Lancer!” Jevil cheered.

Lancer smiled and wiped his tears away, “Okay, I trust you.”

The gremlin giggled joyfully, “Fantastic, fantastic!” He was a bit shocked at the sudden grip on his hand.

Lancer smiled sadly as he held the goblin's hand, “Thanks, Uncle Jevil.”

The surprised imp couldn't help but blush bashfully and chuckled, “Anytime, anytime, Nephew Lancer!” He leaned over and squished Lancer's face, snickering at the goofy look.

“Heeeeey!” Lancer giggled in a goofy fashion.

Jevil laughed and pulled his hands away, “I have an idea, idea! Come to me, me tomorrow afternoon, and you and I will have lots and lots of fun!”

“Wait, you mean _daytime?_ I can't come here during the day, I'll get caught!” Lancer exclaimed.

“That's when your tricks and misdirections come in to help, help!” Jevil advised. “Just tell everyone you're going one way, but actually go this way, way! Needless, needless to say you must, must be diligent and sneaky to come down, down here!”

Lancer thought about this for a moment, then nodded his head, “Okay, I think I know what to do.” He stood up and dusted himself off, “I'll be here as soon as possible, Uncle Jevil, you just wait!”

Jevil sprung up and spun around gaily, “Oh, I can't wait, wait for tomorrow!”

Lancer grinned widely and waved his “uncle” goodbye, “I'll be back!” He bolted up the stairs and to the elevator. Jevil sighed merrily as he suspended himself back on his tail, taking a bite out of one of the sugar cookies, "What a sweet, sweet child."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! Sorry for the wait, I've been busy off and on with personal problems, but I'm back with Chapter 10! It's a shorter chapter for sure, but I have plans for the next one to come. I hope you all enjoyed it and I wish you all a very happy day <3!


	11. Inside the Freedom, Freedom!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancer visits Jevil during the day.

Lancer yawned and stretched his arms and legs. Sitting up, he rolled out of bed and headed toward the bathroom. He completed his morning routine and made his way to the dining room, taking a seat in front of his father. They ate their breakfast in silence while Lancer thought of a plan to sneak back into the hidden basement undetected.

“You've been awfully quiet, my son. What are you even thinking about?” questioned Spades.

“Hm? Oh, just thinking about what you and Rouxls told me a couple of days ago,” lied the prince.

“Well there's clearly no reason to keep thinking about that stupid nonsense. As I established before, Kaard is just an idiot that knows nothing about emotions,” King stabbed his fork into his food and took a bite.

“Yeah, he's stupid n' stuff...” Lancer lied, trying not to seem suspicious.

Spades eyed the boy suspiciously, but remained quiet, “Right...”

Lancer abruptly stood from his spot, “Welp, might as well start my hunt for the Darkners again, Father!”

Lancer rushed to the door until his father stopped him, “Hold on a moment! We haven't started your training, why are you in such a rush?”

Lancer froze in front of the door, “I just...I'm ready to go explore and stuff.”

Spades rose from his chair and trudged over to his son, “Explore _where_ , exactly?”

“Our Dark World, of course, Father,” Lancer held back his fear.

“Is this some excuse to get out of training?” Spades accused.

“What? N-No it isn't!” Lied Lancer. Spades leaned down and glared daggers into his son's soul. A long moment of silence passed and King got up from his spot.

“Fine, be weak and useless,” Spades insulted with a huff, leaving the room. Lancer whined quietly to himself, rubbing his arm and thinking of a way to get to Jevil.

 

After a few minutes of thinking and ambling through his home, he wandered to the first floor. Ruddin Rangers slithered around, guarding the halls and elevators. _I need to get past them,_ he thought. He peeked around the corner, and then an idea struck him. He pointed his finger toward the exit of the castle, and concentrated. He fired a spade down the halls, catching the attention of the Rangers. They ran after the blur, which gave Lancer the perfect opportunity to run. He dashed to the elevator while their backs were turned to him, and he pressed the button rapidly. The doors open and Lancer ran in, pressing the button for Jevil's floor. The elevator descended down below the prison and into Jevil's catacombs.

He exited the small chamber and yelled out, “I'm back!”

Jevil sprung from his spot and bounded toward the freedom bars, “You've returned, returned! And much, much earlier than I expected!”

Lancer bolted down the stairs, eager to see his friend's, “Ya, I used one of my attacks to distract the guards!”

“What a clever, clever deception, my dear boy,” complimented the imp.

Lancer beamed with pride, “Thanks. So what are we going to do together?”

“I'm glad, glad you asked! I was thinking that you and me, me could start training together!” Jevil exclaimed.

Lancer's jaw dropped at the statement, “W-What? Seriously? You're willing to train me?!”

“Indeed, indeed!” Jevil laughed, jumping around everywhere. Lancer's eyes shined, adrenaline pumping through him.

“I-I can't believe it! You're gonna train me!!” Lancer began to jump up and down in place. He slowed down as reality set it.

“But what about my dad? He'd figure out that I would get stronger without his help,” Lancer finally came to a halt.

Jevil landed on his hands in front of the worried prince, “Well then, just don't used any of your advanced, advanced abilities in front of him, silly!”

“Okay, but how can I get in there so we can train properly?” Lancer further questioned.

“Oh that's simple, simple, Lancer! Just squeeze through the bars and join me in my freedom,” Jevil explained happily. Lancer stared at the bars with a blank expression, then back to Jevil.

“Are you sure I can squeeze through _that?_ ” Lancer pointed to them.

“Oh, just suck in your gut and step in sideways,” Jevil said with a wave of his hand. Lancer looked around at the bars and took a few steps over to it. He stood horizontal to the bars, and took a deep breath. He shuffled to prison, and stuck his leg through one of the openings.

He felt an incredibly strange, jelly-like sensation on the bars, “Ewww, what is this feeling?”

“That's the magical aura that stops me from using my magic in the inside world,” Jevil poked the invisible barrier coating the bars.

 

Lancer shoved his arm through his opening, scooting further inside Jevil's world. The aura felt like stepping inside jello to him, which only confused him more. He continued to slide inside, but he eventually got stuck between the bars. He gasped and struggled against the odd feeling barrier. Jevil didn't hesitate to grab his arm and tug as hard as he could. Lancer yelped in surprise, trying to force himself inside with Jevil's aid.

“Try to pop, pop your head inside!” Jevil advised. Lancer did as his new mentor said, but with much difficulty. Jevil stuck his arms through the bars, the barrier glowing a blinding light around his limbs. The entrance tried to push his body away from the bars, but the goblin stood his ground. He wrapped his arms around Lancer's waist, and pulled on the prince as hard as he could. Lancer managed to stick half of his body through, and tried to pull on Jevil for support. Jevil knelt down and grabbed Lancer's leg, and yanked it as hard as he could. Lancer hollered in shock, and fell on his side; his arms were inside Jevil's little freedom. He grabbed the child's hands, and dragged him out with all his might.

 

Lancer came shooting out of the bars and screamed, tumbling on top of the gremlin. Jevil rose from his spot and helped the dog up on his feet. Once Lancer got his bearings, he looked up and gazed upon Jevil's world. The air crackled with freedom, he felt so light on his feet, all of the stress and fear weighing down on him was gone.

“So how do you like, like it?” Jevil asked.

“ _This_ is what you live in?” Lancer couldn’t believe that the imprisoned imp was living in such a paradise.

“Yep, yep, yep! It feels rather free, free, doesn’t it?” Jevil flew around the astonished boy. He clenched his chest, taking a few steps forward. He took it all in, taking careful detail of how the area looked. A large and fixed deep blue and gray big top which was inverted on itself. He gathered the courage to walk to the edge and look down; below the ground was a seemingly bottomless pit. He gasped, stumbling back and nearly falling in. Jevil caught him and carried him back to the center of his room.

“Is this thing floating or something?!” Lancer cried out.

“More or less,” Jevil answered, now floating upside down. “But that pit isn’t bottomless, it’s like a giant loopy tunnel. If you ever fall down, you’ll just wind up on the roof of the blue big top!”

“Sound like you learned that from experience,” Lancer commented.

“You sir are right, right,” Jevil confirmed. Lancer couldn’t help but snicker at the thought of Jevil falling off and winding up at the top of his prison.

“Well are you ready, ready to start your training, Lance?” Jevil poked Lancer’s face. The prince snapped out of his his fantasy and nodded his head eagerly.

“Wonderful, wonderful!” he floated over a few yards away and landed.

 

Lancer jogged over to his mentor and stood next to him.

“Alright, alright, Lancer, we’re gonna focus on your aiming,” Jevil snapped his fingers and a carousel horse formed several feet away. Sweat rolled down Lancer’s face at the thought of failing or embarrassing himself in front of his friend. Jevil puts his hand on Lancer’s shoulder, giving him a reassuring smile. The boy took deep breaths and thought of pleasant things to calm his nerves. He kept in mind the things his father taught him about battle, and he aimed his hand at his target.

“Try to hit the horsie in its face,” Jevil ordered, taking a few steps back.

 

Lancer narrowed his eyes and focused on the toy. He felt his magic flow throughout his body, and a spade formed in front of his finger. It slingshot itself to the target and into the chest. Lancer’s face felt hot seeing that he missed his target.

“You were very, very close, sire; keep on trying!” Jevil encouraged. Lancer was surprised at the kind words, no one really encouraged him or reassure him that everything’s going to turn out right. He inhaled deeply and backed up, readying himself for his next attack. He ran forward and fired another spade at the horse, this time striking it right in its muzzle.

Jevil cheered and applauded the boy, “Amazing, amazing!”

Lancer’s heart fluttered at the sight of his little victory, “I did it!”

“Yes you did, now do it again,” he flicked his hand to the side, Lancer’s spades flying off of the toy and into the abyss. Lancer’s heart raced as he got ready for his next strike. He shot another spade at the horse, this time striking it in its plastic eye. Jevil commended his friend for his accuracy, and told him to keep doing it. After 10 minutes and several impaled carousel horses, they stopped with the accuracy training.

“Alright, you can take a break, break,” Jevil said, hovering above the floor.

“Wait, really?” Lancer wasn’t used to these breaks.

“Well of course, of course! I don’t want to tire you out on the first stage, Lancer,” Jevil pointed out.

Lancer plopped down on the floor, “My dad never gives me breaks whenever we train.”

“That’s just plain unfair,” responded the gremlin.

“Well, my dad told me that there are no breaks in combat, so I just have to suck it up and keep going,” Lancer tried to rationalize his father’s reasoning.

The jester scoffed loudly at that reason, “That’s just a bunch of baloney, baloney!”

Lancer raised a brow, looking rather annoyed, “Have _you_ ever took breaks during a fight?”

“Obviously! I typically fled, fled to regain my health, then continued to fight, fight,” the goblin retaliated. Lancer paused and thought about that scenario; he couldn’t tell if that was cheating or if it was a fair strategy.

“My dad said trying to run from an opponent is really cowardly and stupid,” Lancer mentioned.

“King Grumps can’t tell the difference between cowardness to cleverness,” justified the imp. Lancer was stupefied at Jevil’s sass and boldness. He gave him a snarky and knowing smile, landing in front of the child.

“My dad would’ve _clobbered_ you if you ever said that to his face!” Lancer uttered.

Jevil helped him up, “Like he could ever land a hit on me, me!” Lancer was certainly stunned at Jevil’s arrogance. Jevil patted him on the head and waltz away, creating some targets and obstacles. The goblin generated a large pillar of spades under him and jumped up on it. “Okay Lancer, you need to run, run through this obstacle course! Hit those targets I made with your spades as you move, move passed them! Your prize will be one of Seamy’s cookies when you reach the pillar, pillar I’m on!” Lancer looked down the small maze full of short towers and harmless traps. He trudged over to the start of the maze, getting ready to run.

Jevil formed a stopwatch beside him, “Three, two, one!” Lancer bolted down the course, jumping over traps and moving passed the towers. He fired spades at the targets as he bolted down the maze. He came to a quick stop as soon as he noticed a wall made out of spades, hearts, clubs, and diamonds.

 

He glanced around the wall, seeing if there were any footholes on it. He gripped an indent on it and started climbing up the wall. He began to lose his grip, but he conjured a spade underneath his feet to give him a boost up. He go the the top of the wall and landed on the other side, striking a nearby target with his spade. He sprinted to Jevil’s pillar and touched it with his hand. Beads of sweat poured down his sweat and he took fast and deep breaths. Jevil leaped down from his spot and in front of the exhausted boy.

“You did tremendously, Lancer! 2 minutes and 23 seconds, I am very, very proud of you!” Jevil praised. “And I did promise you a prize, prize,” he handed Lancer a cookie and a little spade-badge that had the word “SPECTACULAR!” carved in it. Lancer chuckled breathlessly, flopping backwards and giving him a thumbs up. He munched on the cookie and slid the little badge under his hood.

“I suppose you need some water, water,” Jevil muttered to himself. He searched around his room for a bottle of water for his guest. Lancer sat up, wiping sweat from his brow. He immediately saw the water bottle being gripped in Jevil’s tail; the imp was completely oblivious to this. Lancer giggled at Jevil’s ignorance.

“You know for a clever clown, you can be pretty dumb!” Lancer insulted jokingly.

Jevil glanced over to the tired and amused boy, confused, “That’s just awfully ru-” he suddenly noticed that he had the bottle in his possession, “Oh!” Lancer laughed loudly and fell back over. The gremlin tossed the water to Lancer, and he didn’t hesitate to chug it all down in seconds.

“What do you, you want to do?” Jevil asked, floating over to Lancer.

Lancer sat up, adjusting his hoodie, “What do you mean? I thought we were training.”

Jevil turned upside down, “Not right now we aren’t. What kinda game do you want to play, play?”

“Hmm,” Lancer rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “how about Rock, Paper, Scissors?”

“Ooo!” Jevil clapped his hands excitedly, “I love, love that game!”

 

Lancer pulled out a sheet of paper from his hood and set it down for them to mark their scores.

Jevil cracked his knuckles and stretched his arms, “Besides Seam, I am the number one, one Rock, Paper, Scissors champion! So don’t feel bad if you lose a million times, times.”

Lancer smiled devilishly, “We’ll see about that!” They shouted the phrase “Rock, paper, scissors shoot!” in unison and held out their hands. Jevil chose paper and Lancer chose rock. The boy huffed angrily as Jevil laughed at him, marking his own victory in the paper. After a few minutes and dozens of victories later, Lancer finally got a score. Jevil stared at their hands, bewildered.

“Ha ha, yes!” the prince snagged the paper and put a tally mark under his underlined name.

“Well good job, good job,” congratulated Jevil, “how about a different game?”

“Hey wait a minute, just because I won one round doesn’t mean you chicken out and play another game!” Lancer accused him.

Jevil confessed, “Oh fine, fine. We can play one more round, round and then we can play a different game.” Lancer smirked and they shouted the phrase again. Lancer did rock and Jevil chose scissors. They both gasped in shock; Jevil’s reaction one of despair and disbelief while Lancer’s was full of joy and excitement.

“Woohoo, twice in a row!” Lancer yelled, throwing his arms in the air. He hurried to mark down his second victory.

Jevil cleared his throat loudly, furrowing his brow, “Well that doesn’t, doesn’t mean a lot anyways! Another round to end this game!”

“You’re on, clown!” Lancer challenged. They repeated the phrase once more and Lancer was victorious again. Jevil screamed in fear and confusion, and Lancer ran around hollering and cheering.

“What!?” the flustered goblin yelled.

“Ahahahah! I beat you _three_ times in a row!” Lancer screamed. He ran and skidded over to the paper, marking down his third triumph. Jevil sat there and stared at his fist with incredulity.

“Did I lose, lose my luster?!” he cried out, “How can this be, be?”

“Just admit it, Jev, a little kid beat you at your own game!” Lancer laughed.

“Need I remind you that I won, won 72 times,” Jevil spat.

“Don’t matter, cuz I won three times in a row!” Lancer boasted. Jevil puffed enviously, slumping over in defeat.

“Don’t be such a sore loser, clown, it’s just a game,” the prince teased.

“You were acting like a sore, sore loser when _you_ kept losing!” reminded Jevil.

“Yeah, yeah, those times were in the past,” Lancer casually waved that thought off.

Jevil sighed heavily and got up off the ground, hovering to Lancer, “What would you like to do next, next?”

Lancer trotted over to the giant pile of cookies, “Eat.” He promptly grabbed one of them and ate it. Jevil did the same and sat down close by the pile.

Lancer plunked down in front of Jevil, eating another cookie, “Tell me a story about yourself.”

“A story, story, hm? Well, what do you want to know, know?” Jevil gripped another cookie and took a bite out of it.

“Uhh...More about your circus life,” Lancer said with a shrug.

A light bulb appeared above the imp’s head, “Ooh! How about I tell you about how escaped, escaped from Ruulz Carde?” Lancer smiled and nodded, keen on learning about this.

Jevil cleared his throat, “Okay, okay! Here’s the story of how I got out of the circus business:”

Past-Ring was gathering everyone up for their next show, “Places everyone! Ah, dammit Anne, that’s not your place! Slinks, put the fiery hoops down!” He ran around the area, directing everyone to their designated areas. Past-Jevil was balancing on one of the lion’s heads with his hands, not really paying attention to anyone or anything.

 

A whip nearly struck his side, the goblin yelping in horror. He tumbled off the plastic lion Darker with a resounding “thud!”. Past-Ring tossed the whip back to the lion tamer, and stormed over the dazed imp.

“Jevil, get to your place! The show starts in _ten_ minutes and all you’re doing is messing around like usual!” Past-Ring hollered. Past-Jevil shook his head trying to bring himself back to reality.

“Oh get up, you damn fool!” he tugged the goblin’s arm.

“Okay, okay, okay, I’m up!” Past-Jevil sighed, dusting himself off. Past-Ring growled and marched away, yelling at his freaks to obey him. Past-Jevil shrugged and hand-walked to his spot. Jumping up, he landed on his pillar-like post and sat down on the small platform that was attached to it. The other acrobatic freaks were already up in their little stations, practicing their back flips and handstands. Past-Jevil hummed to himself, watching them practice. They noticed him and mostly gave him crude looks and looked away. One of the girls decided to walk on the tightrope tied to all the pillar-platforms to Past-Jevil.

“How are you, JJ?” she sat down next to him.

He merely shrugged, “Almost got whipped in the ribs, ribs by Ring. So the usual.”

She giggled at the comment, “Yeah, sounds just like Big R.”

“Why are you over, over here with me, Cracks?” he asked.

Past-Crackle shrugged her cracked porcelain shoulders, “The girls were giving you bad looks so I decided to keep you company.”

“Well thanks, thanks, but I’ll be fine,” Past-Jevil flopped on his back, staring up at the ceiling.

“You sure? Oh, we can play that knife game you like to pass the time,” she went to pull a shard out of her body, but Past-Jevil stopped her.

“Oh, no no no, I don’t want you damaging your pretty body, body before the show!” Past-Jevil grabbed her hand and pulled it away from her shoulder.

Past-Cracks couldn’t help but blush at the kind, but firm gesture, “U-Uh, thanks I guess..?”

“No problem, no problem!” Past-Jevil beamed with joy.

“Hey Cracks! Get your broke butt over here before ring catches you smooching on Jev!” yelled a worn yarn doll.

“S-Shut up, guys!” Past-Crackle yelled, clearly embarrassed. Her “friends” laughed at her and her face turned a bright pink.

She cleared her throat loudly, “Well, guess I'll see you in a few minutes, Jev.” Past-Jevil waved goodbye to her as she ran across the tightrope. He flopped backwards on his back, staring up at the ceiling and waiting. After a moment, customers begun to enter and take their seats. He sat up quickly, gazing upon all of the Darkners. Butterflies raced through his body, excitement pumping in his heart. He giggled excitedly, clapping his hands together. Past-Crackle snickered at the excited imp, her friends whispering and gossiping behind their backs. After another minute, spotlight lights shined upon the room, moving about the area.

The large speakers roared, “Step right up, ladies and gentlemen! Take your seats, the Freakshow is about to begin!” Those lines were the freaks' cue, and they all got prepared for the show. Past-Jevil took deep breaths, envisioning diving and swooping down at the audience like usual.

 

A woman in a dark trench coat wearing black sunglasses entered the place, a few other figures following right behind her. She took a seat away from the grubby patrons, grumbling angrily to herself. Her little entourage gathered around her, sitting beside and behind the lady. Past-Jevil didn't really think of it; it was usual for large families to come and watch the show. The large explosion of smoke and glitter filled the center of the room, and Past-Ring appeared.

“Welcome, welcome, everyone!” he greeted as the audience cheered. “We're very honored to have so many of you joining us tonight for our big event!”

 

Past-Jevil tuned ring's opening speech out, waving his hand up and down mimicking him babbling on and on and on. Past-Crackle tried to keep a straight face at the goblin's mockery.

“But enough about that, everybody! Put your hands together for the opening act!” Past-Ring bellowed, catching Past-Jevil's attention. Past-Jevil and the other trapeze and acrobatic Darkners got ready. The spotlights aimed their shining lights at them so the audience could seem them more clearly. Past-Crackle raced forward, taking several somersaults and front flips before she leaped up and grabbed onto her bar tied to the ceiling. She swung back and forth and finally released, another one of the trapeze artists doing the same and catching her. They held hands and posed, twirling around. The audience cheered and applauded, Past-Jevil preparing himself to perform the same trick.

 

Before he could move, cries and shrieks of fear rung out throughout the building. Past Ruddins, Ruddin Rangers, Hathys and Head Hathys stormed the place, rounding up several freaks. Past-Jevil gasped, frozen in dread. Past-Crackle and her partner panicked, and they began to swing back and forth to get momentum.

“Up there!” shouted a Past-Ruddin Ranger, pointing up to the aerial artists above. Several of the Ruddins shot diamonds up at the ropes, severing them from their places and causing Past-Crackle and her friend to plummet.

“Cracks!” Past-Jevil cried out, about to jump down and try to catch them both.

They were too far down for Jevil to reach, and fell on the large net below them. Past-Crackle sustained several more damages and cracks from the fall.

“Roundst them all up, thy knaves! Don't let a single criminal or freak escapeth!” ordered Past-Ruulz Carde, now free of her coat and glasses. Past Hathys created large hearts around the performers, not allowing them a chance of escape. Past-Ring fought back with all his might, yelling at his freaks to not let the upper class capture everyone. The audience were fleeing the building, several freaks trying to follow but getting swiftly caught and rounded up by the soldiers. Past-Jevil's throat felt tight and heavy as he watched all of his partners and family get thrown in cages like rabid animals. He looked around the tent to see if there was any exit he could take, but all of them were being guarded. He noticed several aerial performers watching down at the chaos from their posts. They were undetected from being so high up.

Past-Jevil hissed loudly to catch their attention, “Psst! Guys, maybe we can escape from the roo-”

Past-Ruulz gasped loudly and pointed up at the ceiling, “Up there, thou idiotse! There art more up there, go and catch them for thine Monarchs!”

“ _Crud,_ ” he murmured, all of his aerial partners giving him a death glare. Past Ruddin Rangers sawed down the wooden posts with their diamond magic, causing many of the freaks to fall. Past-Jevil gasped, and he had to act fast. Many of the co-workers tried to run and flee, but they were too slow. Past-Jevil focused and shot several spades at the fabric ceiling, tearing a medium sized hole for him to crawl through. He sprung up and grabbed the opening, pulling himself out to freedom.

“No!” shrieked Past-Ruulz, “One of them is escaping, catcheth him, fools!” Past-Jevil sprinted across the Big Top roof, dodging several diamond attacks piercing through the fabric. He made it to the edge, and prepared himself for the big jump.

 

He sprung off the ledge and landed rather far from the tent. He glanced behind him at the anarchic scene, but he had to keep running for his life. He heard several Rangers yelling from afar, and dozens of diamonds whizzed passed him. The imp darted into the Scarlet Forest, bobbing and weaving through the trees.

 

“I eventually outran those darn, darn Rangers and their little leader Ruulz. Ever since then, my life has changed, changed!” Jevil concluded.

Lancer sat there, taking it all in, “Woah...So _that's_ what the circus was like. That sounds totally wicked, Jevil!”

The goblin giggled at Lancer's conclusion, patting him on the head, “It certainly, certainly was. When Seamy and I became court mage and jester, Ruulz and I formed a very, very strong hatred for each other.”

Lancer stroked his chin, thinking for a minute, “Wait a minute, what did this Ruulz lady look like?”

“Hm? Oh, she was a tall blue lady with deep purple hair, hair and an overly fancy dress. She was such, such a suck up to the upper class, I swear,” grumbled Jevil.

Lancer quickly connected the dots and gasped loudly, “Wait a minute, Ruulz is Lesser Dad's mom!”

“Wait, what?” Jevil gave the child an odd look.

“Just think about it! They both have the same positions as the Rules Card, they both speak in a very goofy and fancy way, and they _both_ have blue skin and are total suck ups!” Lancer proclaimed.

Jevil nodded his head slowly, “Yes, yes now that I think about it, I _do_ believe, believe Ruulz had a husband with silvery-white hair.”

“Boom! Theory confirmed, gimme a high-five!” Lancer raised his paw up and the two high-fived.

“You're very, very clever Lancer,” complimented the jester, “I never even thought about that!”

“Now that I'm on a roll, I've came up with _another_ theory: that Crackle lady had a major crush on you!” Lancer accused.

“What, a crush, crush? Oh no, no that cannot be, be! Why would she ever like someone like me?” Jevil denied.

“Well you kept saying she acted all bashful and sweet when she was around you,” the prince pointed out.

Jevil paused and stared at the floor, processing this possibility, “I never even realized, realized that she could've had feelings for me, me!”

“Well that brings up a question, where is she now?” Lancer inquired.

Jevil looked at him with a saddened expression, “It's been over 100 years, years, Lancer. She's most, most likely dead.”

Lancer's heart broke in two at that statement, “Are you serious?”

Jevil nodded and shrugged his shoulders solemnly, “Yes, yes I am serious. Her overall health and well-being were in jeopardy, jeopardy with her cracked, cracked body. I'm sure, sure she's just dust and pieces now.” Lancer pouted dismally, curling up a bit.

Jevil sighed and brought him up in a hug, “But don't be sad, sad, Lancer! I am just happy, happy she was in my life to be my friend, friend.”

Lancer smiled gloomily, “I guess you make a point. Thanks, Uncle Jevil.”

Jevil's tail wagged joyfully, “You're welcome, you're welcome, Nephew Lancer.” Lancer giggled boyishly and slipped out of the gremlin's grip.

“I need to go, I don't want anyone to get suspicious about me not being outside,” Lancer got off the ground.

“But you _are_ outside, outside, prince,” Jevil corrected.

Lancer just shrugged it off as Jevil's weirdness, “You know what I mean.”

Jevil sighed loudly, “Just five, five more minutes?”

“I don't think I can stay for an extra five, Jev,” he gathered up his things, “but I promise that I'll come back tomorrow morning.”

The imp hovered above the ground, “Okay, okay I'll let you leave, then.” Lancer tossed his things through the bars and stood horizontally to them. After a few minutes of Jevil and Lancer struggling to set the boy free, he fell belly first on the floor.

“Oof!” he barked. He got back up on his feet and dusted himself off. “Bye, Jevil!” he picked up his things and ran up the stairs. Jevil waved the boy goodbye, suspending himself back on his tail. He waited until Lancer got on the elevator, then pulled Seam's sugar cookie from his hat.

“A crush, crush, huh?” he held it close, “I know what that's like.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I am SO sorry for not posting for a long time. I've been on burnout for a while but I've gotten my mojo back. Summer break has started for me so I'll try to be posting more chapters more frequently throughout my break. I love you all and I hope you enjoyed this long chapter I've been working on. I apologize again for being dead for a while.


	13. Flustered Feline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancer visits his buddy Seam after his training with his new goblin mentor.

Seam stirred his tea with his finger, still feeling flustered and restless about his conclusion with Jevil's feelings. His tail slowly swayed from side to side, eyes fixated on his drink.

“I just can't believe I was so blind to not see those signs in the past... I blew it and now he probably hates me-.”

“SEAM!” Lancer screamed from the entrance, causing the cat to jump in surprise. He levitated his cup over to one of the tables, taking deep breaths.

“I'm back here, sire,” he wheezed.

Lancer ran into the back room, adrenaline still pumping through his veins, “Hey Seam, how are you?”

Seam sat up in his chair, clearing his throat. “I'm as fine as ever,” he lied, “how about you?”

“I'm really great, actually!” Lancer exclaimed, “I got inside Jevil's prison and-.”

“You did _what?!_ ” he shouted in fear.

Lancer's hood drooped a bit, confused, “Yeah, what's so bad about that?”

“J-Just,” he took deep breaths, trying to calm himself, “just _how_ did you even get in there?”

“I squeezed through the bars with Jev's help,” Lancer gathered up the pillows and blankets around the room and dropped them in front of the feline.

“I thought the spell I used repelled _everyone_ from the cell door,” he muttered.

Lancer flopped on his little pile, “Jevil said it only slings _him_ back if he sticks too much of himself out of his prison.”

“I must have overlooked that flaw in my spell, then,” Seam sighed, teleporting his cup of tea back into his grip.

Lancer tilted his head a bit, “What's the matter?”

“A-Ah, there's nothing wrong with me, sire,” he misdirected once more. “I've just been thinking about... Certain things, lately.”

“What kinda things?” Lancer rested his head on his fists.

“Personal things that you don't need to worry about, Lancer,” Seam said, taking a sip of his tea.

Lancer groaned noisily, “Tell me! I'm not gonna tell anyone, I swear!” Seam grumbled a bit in defeat. “I've been thinking about Jevil,” he admitted.

“Oh, about his feelings?” Lancer asked.

“Yeah, about his feelings,” he nodded his head.

“What did you decide?” Lancer got closer to the ragdoll.

Seam turned his head away, trying not to blush, “That's none of your business, prince.” Lancer sighed vehemently and face-planted into the pillows.

Seam took this moment to change the subject, “Uh, what did you 2 do in his prison?” Lancer looked up at him, head resting on the pillows. Seam gave him a warm smile to butter him up.

Lancer sat up, now feeling happier, “He started training me!”

“Really now? What did he train you on today?” Seam set his cup of tea aside.

“Standard aiming and speed stuff; he even made a mini maze for me to go through!” Lancer's tail wagged.

“Sounds like fun,” he commented.

“It really was! Aaaaand very tiring. After I got done training he told me how he escaped his circus life,” Lancer said.

“Oh? I remember Jevil telling me about that story for the first time,” Seam reminisced. “I didn't believe him at first, but after I met Ruulz it was pretty clear he wasn't misdirecting at all.”

“How did Ruulz react?” Lancer got up and went to the fridge.

Seam snickered at the memory, “Well, when she realized that my sidekick jester was Jevil, she was _furious._ After we became the official court mage and jester, she pulled me aside and talked to me about Jevil and how he was a wanted criminal. Dunno how she figured out that Jevil was the only circus freak that escaped, but she was really unhappy that I knew about it and didn't do anything.”

Lancer flopped down on his pillow pile with a glass of milk in his grip, “What else happened?”

“How about I just show you,” his paw glimmered a bright pink.

Lancer gasped and sprung up from his spot, “Hey wait a minute!” Seam paused and watched Lancer as he desperately scrambled over to the fridge and snag out all the sugar cookies. He threw them in the microwave and heated them up, tossing them on a paper plate when they were finished heating.

The child casually waltz back over to his spot and took a seat, “Okay, I'm ready.” Seam snickered at the little scene Lancer just caused. The old feline conjured the large magical screen in front of them.

 

Past-Ruulz gripped Past-Seam and pulled him away from the throne room, “What art thou thinking, Mage?!”

Past-Seam pulled his arm away and adjusted his cat head-shaped white mask, “I don't know what you're talking about, Duchess.”

“For having a criminal as your _court jester!_ ” she spat.

“Jevil? He isn't a criminal, he's a good man. He's not gonna cause any problems or steal anything,” he defended.

“That 'man' is the damned freak my good-for-nothing guards could not capture!” she yelled. “He should've been nothingest but a pile of _dust_ by now!”

 

This enraged the new mage, but she couldn't tell from the mask he was wearing. Past-Seam stomped his foot loudly and grabbed the duchess by the shoulder roughly, causing her to gasp in pain.

He leaned down closely and hissed lowly, “Listen here Carde, and listen carefully. I can tolerate _many_ things, but I will _NEVER_ tolerate anyone threatening the lives and well-beings of my friends or family. If I hear you say anything like that again, you won't have a mouth to squawk with. Do I make myself clear?” He pulled his gloved paw away from the distressed duchess, retracting his claws. She inhaled sharply, holding her shoulder.

She glared daggers at him, “I shalt _ruin_ thine career, so helpeth me!”

“Good luck with that, Duchess,” he leaned over and watched Past-Jevil bounce around, laughing and hollering with glee, “I don't think we'll be leaving anytime soon.” She growled loudly in defeat and stormed away, heading over to the bedazzled monarchs. Past-Seam chuckled in victory, watching the overjoyed imp celebrating his new career.

 

Seam clenched his fist and the screen faded, “This happened right after the monarchs chose us as the court jester and magician. I was pretty shocked that they chose us _that_ early, but I had to hold myself together.”

“Were those your costumes?” Lancer asked, setting his empty glass down.

Seam nodded, “Yes they were.”

“Why was your fur all silvery and stuff?” he asked, picking up one of the cookies.

“Part of the costume and aesthetic, it's tradition for the mage to change their physical appearance,” Seam explained. “My father turned his fur solid white whenever he performed, and my grandpa turned his fur black. _His_ father turned his turn white and the one before him turned his black, and so on and so forth. I decided to break the repetitive chain and chose a silver-ish color.”

“It looked really pretty!” the boy complimented, ignoring the little exposition dump.

Seam laughed quietly, “Thank you.”

“Jevil's outfit looked different, too,” Lancer added and took a bite of his cookie.

“Yes, it's not like the one he wore when I last saw him. We kept redesigning his outfit over the years of being the court mage and jester,” clarified Seam.

“Did you keep changing your costume, too?” Lancer asked.

“No, not really,” Seam mumbled.

“Are you sure you're okay?” the boy asked, “You've been acting sorta off since I got here.”

“I'm fine, Lancer. You don't have to worry about me,” he reassured.

Lancer whined quietly, “Are you positive?” Seam nodded his head.

“If you say so,” Lancer mumbled. “...Well, back to Jevil's feelings! He was telling me about his friend Crackle, and I believed that she had a major crush on him.”

“Crackle? Oh, his circus friend. Yeah, when we was telling me about her all those years ago, I thought the same, too.” Seam agreed.

“Mhm. Me and Jevil came to the conclusion that Ruulz is Lesser Dad's mom, too,” Lancer added.

“She is,” Seam confirmed, “I remember seeing her pregnant several decades ago; I even met her husband. He was _slightly_ more tolerable than her, fortunately.”

“Woo, I knew it!” the kid howled.

“Although, I don't remember seeing her after that,” Seam continued. “I heard that she got replaced by her son about 30 years ago, but I don't know _where_ she went.” Lancer shrugged his shoulders, just as confused as his host.

“I also heard that after your father overthrew the other kings, he fired everyone or imprisoned them. So there's a possibility she's in prison,” the feline suggested.

“I'm not allowed to be in the dungeon,” Lancer mentioned.

“Reasonable that no one would want a child in the dungeons,” Seam chuckled.

“But I'm royalty,” he retaliated, “I should get _some_ kinda privilege to go down there.”

“You need to keep in mind, Lancer, that you're the Spade King's child. He's going to be protective of you and your, ahem, 'innocence',” Seam justified.

Lancer groaned loudly, flopping back, “I guess you're right.”

“Am I ever wrong?” Seam asked, snickering.

“I dunno, maybe sometimes,” Lancer muttered without second thought.

Seam chuckled lightly at that afterthought, “Fair enough.” After a few hours and the dim sun beginning to set, Lancer made his way out of the shop.

“Bye Seam!” he waved, running out of the small store. Seam waved his paw, smiling. He waited until Lancer was far enough, and exhaled lowly.

Resting his hand on his fist, he whimpered, “I'm so sorry, Jevil.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everybody! I finished this chapter up at midnight and now here it is. Sorry for the delay, but I'm working on the next chapter right now. I'm probably gonna start giving myself deadlines, so expect the next chapter to come out sometime next week. Now positive of course, because I do have other things to do, but be looking forward to it. Ily all and I hope you guys have a fantastic week <3.


	14. Party Pools and Racing Fools!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancer takes the first few steps in planning his party.

Lancer slurped down spaghetti noodles, getting sauce all over his face and shirt. King of Spades casually cut up his lasagna and took large bites out of it.

“You've been uncharacteristically happy today, Lancer. Why is that?” Spades brought up.

“I'm just excited for my birthday,” Lancer half-lied, chugging down some of his milk.

“That reminds me, Lancer, what party theme do you want?” Spades asked.

The prince looked up at him in shock, “You're actually _asking_ me?”

Spades scoffed, feeling offended, “Obviously, I thought since you're turning 10, you would want to pick the party theme. I'm starting to rethink my decision, now.”

“I-I'm sorry!” Lancer yipped, “I uh, just wasn't expecting that.” Spades huffed angrily, taking a sip of his wine.

“Um, how about water themed?” he suggested.

“Water themed?” his father repeated, giving him an unimpressed look.

“Yeah! We could have a bunch of pools and stuff, and everyone can be in bathing suits!” Lancer exclaimed excitedly, patting his paws on the table.

“I'm not too sure about the swimsuit part, but the rest sounds doable,” he took a bite out of his garlic bread. The child giggled excitedly and continued with his dinner. After a few hours, Lancer got done with his bath. Rouxls Kaard brushed through his white fur, Lancer already dressed in his pajamas.

Rouxls decided to make conversation, “Thine Father was telling me that thou wantedst a water themed birthday party.”

“Mhm, with pools and everything!” Lancer replied.

“Hmm... Well I amst certain that thine father will work something out,” Rouxls patted the boy on his head, setting the brush aside. “Now off to bed with thee.” Lancer rose from his spot, snagging his hood from the table. Kaard eyed the suspicious cookie crumbs on the table.

He raised his brow, “Crumbse? Why art there crumbs by the sink, sire?”

“Hm? Oh, Seam gave me some cookies,” Lancer explained, and selected a cookie from his hood. He unwrapped the treat from its plastic wrap and held it up. Rouxls gasped quietly, staring at the delicacy.

He snatched the cookie from the boy, “Lancer, how long have thou hadst these... Ugh, _things?_ ”

“Seam gave me those a few days ago,” Lancer answered, “and don't say 'things' like that! They're delicious and amazing; you should try a bite.”

Rouxls stared at the cookie with disgust, “Have thee been consuming these sugar-infested items at night?”

“No,” Lancer lied.

Rouxls narrowed his eyes at the prince, not believing him, “I don't trust what thou sayeth.”

Lancer sighed, gripping his hood tightly, “Okay, I have been eating a few.”

“Well that explains why thee has such trouble sleepingeth at nighttime!” he exclaimed. Lancer bowed his head in shame.

“Since though liedst to me, for now on, these sugary things art not allowed in thou room without thine father's permissione.” He turned and tossed the cookie into the trashcan. Lancer gasped in shock, running over the the discarded cookie and taking it.

The duke huffed angrily, stealing the food from the distressed boy, “Don't go dumpster diving, prince!”

“But those cookies are tasty and you just threw one away for no reason!” Lancer argued.

“I _do_ hath a reason and it is to punish thou for eating snacks aftere thine bedtime!” Rouxls shouted. “Now be greatful that I am not going to informeth thine father about any of this little debacle.”

Lancer slumped his shoulders, defeated, “Okay...”

“Goodst, now let us go to thine room to tuck thou in,” he grabbed Lancer's paw and traveled to his room. Rouxls tucked the prince into his spade-shaped bed and wished him a good night's rest. Lancer waited for the duke to return to his shop. The prince smiled widely as he peeked under his bed and pulled out a secret stash of sugar cookies. He giggled deviously and unwrapped them, taking a generous bite out of the first one. He savored the heavenly taste of the delicacy, and ate the rest of it. Wrapping up the rest, he slid the stack of cookies underneath his bed for tomorrow afternoon.

 

Lancer and Spades ate their breakfast in silence, both thinking about the upcoming royal birthday.

Lancer took a sip of his milk, “I was thinking about all the food and stuff that's gonna be at the party, and I was wondering if we could have Seam do all the catering?”

Spades glanced at his son, frowning, “The old magician? Lancer, you can't expect a ragdoll that's over 100 years old to prepare all the food.”

“No, I meant like the cake and cookies and stuff,” he clarified.

Spades narrowed his eyes at Lancer, “Why are you so hellbent on _him_ catering the party? Weren't all of the previous cakes and cupcakes and whatever not good enough for you?”

“I'm not saying that, I'm trying to say that his baking skill are amazing! _Especially_ his sugar cookies; they're addicting!” Lancer praised.

“So you've been visiting the old cat just for his cookies,” Spades deduced, not amused.

“Uh....Yes and no,” Lancer murmured, taking a bite out of his muffin.

“Give me a clear answer, Lancer,” King demanded.

“The cookies are just a perk,” Lancer answered, “but I like going to him cuz his stories are interesting.”

“His stories? What kind of falsehoods has that old geezer been telling you, my son?” he spat.

“The stories aren't lies, he's just telling me stuff about his past, nothing more and nothing less!” defended the boy.

Slamming his fist on the table, he silenced the angered kid, “I will _not_ tolerate being shouted at by a child!”

Lancer held back his fear and nodded his head, finishing his breakfast silently.

 

After a few hours of training and Rouxls Kaard healing Lancer's wounds, the eager boy raced down to his new mentor's lair. Jevil was standing on his hands, boredom consuming him. His ears perked up as soon as he heard the elevator doors open.

“I'm back, Jevil!” Lancer yelled from the top of the stairs.

“Welcome back, back, Lancer!” the imp shouted, jumping up and landing on his feet. The Spade Prince sprinted down the stairs and in front of the jester's prison.

“How are you, you this fine afternoon, my dear boy?” inquired the elated gremlin.

“I'm pretty good, just got done training with my dad,” Lancer reached in his hood and pulled out the secret stack of cookies. He removed one from the wrapping and ate it.

“That's fantastic to hear, because you and I are going to train, train again today!” Jevil clapped his hands excitedly.

Lancer smiled, sliding the cookie stack back inside his hood, “Alright, what are we gonna practice today?”

“I was thinking, thinking we should practice your speed and endurance,” Jevil said, suspending himself on his tail once more.

“Oh, we could race each other!” Lancer suggested.

“Ooh, I didn't think about that option!” Jevil squealed, “Let's do it, do it!”

 

Jevil and Lancer fought their way through the bars and into the “free world” once again, both falling on top of each other. Lancer rolled off of his friend, out of breath. Jevil sprung up from his spot and helped the prince up.

“Are you ready, ready for our race, Lancer?” Jevil hopped around in place.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Lancer said, dusting himself off. Jevil giggled with glee as they got in their positions.

Jevil pointed forward, a finish line made out of spades forming in the distance, “First one to cross the line wins, wins.” They got ready and faced the finish line. Jevil counted down from five, and when he reached zero they bolted. Jevil laughed crazily, doing cartwheels, aerial cartwheels, somersaults, handsprings, and flips. Lancer stuck his tongue angrily at him, speeding up. As they kept running, the ground and ceiling shook and began to turn. Lancer stopped and balanced himself, the world around him spinning. Jevil wasn't affected by this change, he was twirling around and laughing.

“Hey, no fair!” Lancer barked.

“We never, never established any rules, rules!” Jevil cackled. Lancer glared at the cheeky goblin, and continued to run to the finish line. Jevil waited until the boy could catch up to him and they ran forward. Lancer fired a spade at Jevil's foot, knocking him over.

“Agh!” he yelped, falling on his side. Lancer ran faster, laughing mockingly at the fallen gremlin.

“Clever, clever,” Jevil chuckled lowly. He rose up from his spot and chased after the prince. The devilsknife appear in his hand as he got closer behind him.

“Behind you!” he shouted. Lancer glanced behind him and witnessed a barrage of spades shooting at his feet. He shouted in surprise and jumped over them, but one slipped under his foot and caused him to fall backwards.

“Hah hah! See you at the finish line, princey!” Jevil teased as he dashed past him. Lancer growled and fired several spades at him. The attacks struck Jevil's back and he squealed in shock, his tongue sticking out. He fell face first onto the spinning floor, hearing Lancer's footsteps move past his ears. The jester sprung back up and whistled loudly to catch the boy's attention. He glanced behind to see his mentor, but instead was greeted by several hearts raining down on him. He screamed and ran around in circles, dodging most of them. The hearts didn't hurt him much to his surprise, they just tickled him whenever they came in contact with his body. Lancer shook the feeling off and chased after the imp that was far ahead of him.

 

An idea popped into his head, and he created a small wall of spades in front of Jevil. The goblin tried to stop himself, but he crashed into it. They faded away and Jevil shook his head. Lancer sprinted from the goblin, but he caught his ankles with his scythe, pulling him backwards and collapsing to the ground. Jevil scrambled to get up, but Lancer got up and snagged him by his J-shaped tail and hauled him back. Jevil hollered at the sensation of his tail being yanked roughly. Lancer tried to get away from the goblin, but he grabbed the child by the hood and tugged him away. Lancer acted fast and grabbed his wrist, taking the clown with him and knocked him in the ground. He tore off his hood, threw it at Jevil's face, and made a run for it. Jevil acted even faster and wrapped his tail around one of his ankles and dragged him down. Lancer inhaled sharply and groaned a bit while Jevil desperately clamored over him. Lancer gripped his cape and jerked it back. Jevil fell on top of him, but Lancer managed to turn him and pin him down. He returned to his feet scurried over to the line.

 

Jevil refused to let Lancer get away, and they continued to pull each other away from the nearby finish line. They climbed on top of each other and jumped over one another, pinning and pushing each other down and perilously crawl to the line.

 

The line was only a few yards away, and the spinning world slowed its pace. Lancer was getting closer and closer, but Jevil leaped at him and tackled him. It felt like time practically stopped as they tumbled to the ground, Lancer's arms extended forward. They panted in exhaustion, Lancer completely dazed and dizzy. He blinked and looked toward his outstretched hand. It reached past the finish line, while Jevil was just clinging onto the Spade Prince's legs.

Lancer gasped in joy, shoving Jevil off of him, “I made it!” Jevil rubbed his head, untwisting his body and peering over to Lancer. He stared at his paw, which was reaching _just_ past the finish line.

Jevil smiled with pride, getting off the ground and dusting himself off. “Good job, job, Lancer!” he praised and offered a hand out to the child. Lancer grabbed his hand, stood up, and promptly started to cheer, whoop, and compliment himself.

 

“Heck yeah! I did it! I beat you in a race and I did it all by myself!” he proclaimed, running around the area and jumping around. Jevil laughed and followed him around, bouncing and cartwheeling. After a few moments of gloating and celebrating, they moved on to the next training session.

 

A few hours of playing and training together, they stared up at the stripped ceiling and took a well deserved break.

“Do you have any plans, plans for today, Lancer?” inquired the gremlin.

“Hmm...Well I'm gonna go visit Seam and ask if he could cater my birthday soon,” answered the child.

“Wait a moment, moment! Your birthday, birthday party?” he turned around and faced the prince.

“Yeah, I'm gonna turn ten years old in a few days!” Lancer's tail wagged merrily.

Jevil sprung up and landed on his feet, “Well why didn't you tell, tell me sooner?”

“I was gonna tell you _on_ my birthday,” Lancer confessed, sitting up.

“Well go on, on and visit Seamy! I have lots and lots of work to do for this event!” Jevil cried out, lifting the boy to his feet.

“Huh? What do you mean?” Lancer got up with the help of his “uncle”.

“It's a surprise, surprise, little one! Now off you go, go,” he pushed him closer to the prison bars. Lancer squeezed through the bars with the aid of his friend and adjusted his outfit. Lancer turned around to speak to the imp, but Jevil reached over and pulled his hood down over his eyes and spun him around to face the stairs.

“Happy, happy travels, my dear friend!” Jevil waved as he created a giant curtain blocking out the “free world”. Lancer huffed and fixed his hood, walking up the stairs.

 

Seam took a sip of his tea at his counter, counting down from ten. As soon as he got to one, Lancer ran inside with glee.

The old cat chuckled lowly, “Welcome back, sire.”

“Hey Seam!” Lancer greeted, pulling an empty seat over to the table and got up on it to be eye-level with his host.

“I'm guessing you're here to talk to me about your day, hm?” he took another long sip out of his drink.

“Yes and no,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “What I'm _really_ here for is this!” he pulled out a large stack of cash from his hood and dropped it onto the table with a resounding thud. Seam choked on his tea and coughed, setting the cup aside. He blinked his eyes as he stared at what he assumed to be practically thousands of dark dollars in cash.

“How'd you not break your neck carrying that around in your hood, sire?” he asked in awe.

“The magician never reveals his secrets,” Lancer giggled.

Seam smiled a bit, “Sounds like I taught you well, but uh....Are you trying to buy out my entire store, Lancer?” he pointed to the small mountain of money.

Lancer laughed goofily, “Nah, I want you to cater my upcoming birthday party!” Lancer then produced an invitation card from his hood and gave it to the feline. Seam gingerly took it and glanced down at it.

“Ah, your party is in a week and I forgot about it. Sorry about that, your highness,” he set the card aside.

“Don't be sorry, I know you're old and forgetful,” Lancer remarked. Seam rolled his button eye in response to that unintentional insult.

“What do you even want me to cook? You know I'm only good for baking sweets and all,” Seam tapped his claws against the wooden table.

“I want you to make be a biiiiiig birthday cake. It needs to have exactly ten birthday candles and- Wait a second,” he reached in his hoodie once more and pulled out a crude drawing of what his cake would look like. Seam stared at the drawing, holding back some laughter.

“That's like a ten tier cake, Lancer. I doubt your father would approve of _that_ much cake,” he pointed out.

“I know,” he said with a groan, “but I want each tier to have one candle each.”

“Mm, how about I make you a _two_ layer cake with you helping me with it and such?” the purple cat suggested.

“Wait, what?” he tilted his head slightly in confusion.

“Yeah, and it would make the cake extra special because you helped in creating it,” Seam reassured him with a confident nod.

Lancer's smile returned to him, “Okay!”

“I guess that will cost all the money you just gave me,” he said teasingly, pulling the cash closer to him.

“Hey!” he stuck his tongue out in a silly fashion.

Seam stopped and laughed slightly, “You know I'm just pulling your leg, sire. You don't have to pay me for it.”

“Rouxls would just get upset with me if I didn't pay you for your services,” Lancer pushed the stash closer to the cat.

“Well how about this, I take 200 dark dollars and you can keep the rest,” he plucked 200 dark dollars from the stack and returned the rest to the kid.

“Sounds like a deal! Let's get to baking-” Seam put his paw on the excited boy's shoulder.

“Wait a few days and _then_ we'll start on it,” Seam told him. “Let's wait until three days before the party and we'll bake it so the cake won't get all cold and stale.”

“Mm, okay. I trust you and your judgment,” Lancer smiled happily.

Seam grinned, pleased with the child's cooperation, “Well I'm guessing you want to tell me about your day, now, huh?”

“Yup,” he yipped.

“You know the drill, sire,” he grabbed his cane and they made their way to the back room. Lancer followed him, piling up a bunch pillows and blankets in front of the rocking chair. Seam sat down in front of him, his cup levitating beside him. The prince helped himself with some cookies and fell into his pillow-blanket heap.

He munched down on one of the cookies, and spoke “Oh yeah, Seam?”

“What is it, Lancer?” he rocked back and forth in his chair.

“Rouxls found out about the cookies last night and got mad at me,” Lancer begun.

“Eh? How'd he find out, Lancer? And I thought I told you to be discreet about the treats,” Seam cringed lightly.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. He found them in my hoodie when he was brushing my hair,” he clarified.

“Ah, I see,” he muttered.

“But what he _doesn't_ know is that I have another stash under my bed!” he yelped with pride.

“Don't get too cocky, now, Lancer. Don't wanna jinx your current luck, y'know?” Seam warned.

“Oh now you jinxed it, Seam!” he cried out in distress.

“Nope, _you_ just jinxed yourself. Just steer clear of trouble,” he argued. Lancer blew raspberries at him childishly.

Seam chuckled at the child's reaction and took a sip of tea, “Well besides that, what else did you do?”

“Oh, Jevil and I had a race and played a bunch of games!” he woofed.

Seam frowned a bit, stirring a finger in his drink, “Speaking of Jevil...You just be careful around him, okay?”

“Why? He's harmless,” Lancer questioned. Seam went to go on and explain, but he stopped himself before he even said a word; he didn't want to risk losing the boy's friendship.

“Just be cautious around him, sire. Can you promise me this?” he asked.

Lancer sighed loudly, “Okay, I promise.”

“Thank you,” the old cat's tail swayed side to side slowly.

“Why are you even so freaked out about him?” he took a drink out of his milk.

“...I'd rather not talk about it, Lancer,” Seam turned the other cheek in shame, staring at the wall.

Lancer set his cup down, concerned for his host, “Is there something you want to talk about?”

“What happened in my past doesn't concern you, Lancer,” Seam said slowly, trying to use the right words not to upset the child.

Lancer scrunched up his nose in exasperation, “Fine...”

Seam exhaled gradually and turned back to the prince, “How about another memory?”

“Uh, sure-” he was interrupted by a Ruddin entering the store.

“Hello?” greeted the soldier, looking around the main room.

“Hold on!” Seam hollered in his “old man voice”. “Lay low, Lancer,” he whispered to the prince. Lancer gathered a bunch of pillows and hid under them in a corner. Seam rose from his chair and hobbled over to his customer.

“Hey uh, I'm just looking around for the prince. The king said that he's suppose to come home early, but he hasn't showed up yet,” the soldier explained.

“Ah, the prince? I haven't seen 'im today,” misdirected the old feline.

“Okay,” the soldier said, “also I wanna buy one of your cookies if you got any.” It was rather obvious he didn't care about finding the prince.

“50 dark dollars,” Seam said, teleporting a cookie in his paw. The Ruddin bought the cookie and slithered out of the store.

“Crap!” shouted Lancer, running out of the backroom, “I totally forgot about what my dad said after we trained!”

“It's fine, Lancer. Go on before you get into more trouble,” Seam casually waved his paw to the door. Lancer nodded his head, returned to the back room, and cleaned up.

“Bye Seam!” Lancer yelled, running out of the store. Seam smiled and waved to him back, remaining silent.

Seam shook his head, “I just hope that he heeds my warning.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WOOOOOOO OKAY GUYS I HAVE RETURNED FROM THE DEAD.  
> In all seriousness, I apologize for being gone for over a month. I wanted to enjoy the rest of my summer and school has started for me the other day. Many things were happening during July and I had to put the story on hiatus, but I'm finally back! I hope you enjoyed this longer chapter of Hidden Basement, and I love you all <3


	15. Little Kittens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lancer listens to another one of Seam's stories.

After a few hours of discussing Lancer's upcoming birthday party, Spades dismissed his son and Rouxls Kaard. The Duke led the child through the castle, both remaining silent.

“I'm not in trouble, am I?” Lancer asked to break the awkward silence.

“Trouble? No, I amst sure the Kinge hast pardoned thee for forgetting today's 'appointment',” Rouxls shrugged that thought off.

“Okay,” muttered the boy.

“Hm,” the Duke stroked his chin, “I wondere if there will be any Childrene thine age attending your party.”

“Why you say that?” the prince glanced up at his lesser dad.

“Well,” the man grimaced, “Thou...Don't have many colleagues.”

“Colleagues?” Lancer repeated, a brow raised.

“Aye, friends,” he nodded his head.

“Well your my friend. So are some of the guards, and Seam, and-.” he instantly covered his mouth.

“And _whom?_ ” Rouxls narrowed his eyes down at the kid.

“Aaaaaannnnddd my bed!” Lancer smiled brightly, burying his guilt and lies deep down.

“Thine bed?” Rouxls restated with a scoff.

“Yep,” Lancer barked.

“...If thee sayeth so,” he sighed. They trudged up the stairs until they made it to the prince's room.

“It was cool talking to you, Lesser Dad, okay goodbye!” he bolted inside his bedroom, slamming the door in his face. Rouxls huffed and made his way into his store.

 

Lancer performed his morning routine and trained with his father for two hours. The elated boy sneaked his way down to Jevil's lair, only to be greeted with a giant red velvet curtain blocking the bars from the inside.

“What?!” he exclaimed, stomping over to the small white sign tied to the curtains. He read the messy words written with marker on the white sign, “Show coming soon..?”

“Tsk, Uncle Jevil!” he reached through the magical, jelly-like barrier and touched the velvet curtains. Lancer fidgeted and tugged on the curtains for over ten minutes before finally giving up. He blew raspberries childishly at the sign and climbed up the long flight of stairs.

 

Seam hummed a soothing melody to himself, sewing up a small, yet noticeable tear on the side of one of his dozens of pillows. His ear twitched as he caught the familiar pitter-patter of footsteps nearing his store. Clearing his throat and sitting up, he set the pillow aside and rose from his seat.

“Mr. Seam!” Lancer hollered, running inside the store.

The old cat staggered over to the counter, “Welcome back, Lancer. Why are you here so early?”

“Jevil put up a sign saying that he's 'practicing' for some show!” Lancer barked.

“Really now? Heh, Jevil's full of surprises,” Seam chuckled.

“He also kicked me out yesterday when I told him my birthday is in a few days,” he mentioned.

“That's probably why he's practicin', Lancer,” Seam pointed out.

“Hm?” the boy still didn't understand.

“I'm saying he's probably gonna put on a big show for you and all,” he spelled out.

Lancer gasped, his eyes shining with glee, “You really think he's gonna perform for me?”

“I'm not promising that he is, Lancer, so don't get your hopes up,” the old man clarified.

“Too late!” he giggled excitedly.

Seam snickered at the boy's excitement and joy, “If you say so. Let's go to the back room so you can get your fill of cookies for today.” Seam led the way, Lancer walking right beside him. Seam felt something warm wrap around two of his fingers. He glanced down to find Lancer holding his paw as they walked. Lancer smiled warmly at him. A flustered Seam averted his gaze, giggling silently at the sweet gesture.

 

The ex-magician took his seat and levitated the pillow and sewing equipment back on his lap. Lancer grabbed a few cookies and poured himself a glass of milk. Lancer carefully placed his plate and milk on the ground. He then sprinted around the room, collecting the pillows and blankets and more or less body-slammed them in front of Seam.

Lancer stuffed his mouth with a chocolate chip cookie, “Tell mah anota starry, Sha.” Seam perfectly understood his request and pondered for a moment.

“Hmm, how about I tell you the story of when Jevil turned me into a kid?” he offered.

“Wait, he really did that?” Lancer asked in disbelief.

“Really really,” Seam confirmed, his hand glowing that familiar pink aura. The Memory Screen formed in front of the wall. Lancer turned himself so he could fully face the magical screen, setting the plate of cookies on top of his lap.

“Now I need to warn ya now, Lancer, I can't remember _all_ the details to this memory. Since, you know, he turned me into a child and all,” Seam addressed.

“Okay,” Lancer munched a sugar cookie.

 

The sparking water rose and spun in the air, then “poofed”, the water droplets dispensing everywhere. A similar trick was performed, instead the water churned and separated, spelling out the word “JESTER!”.

Past-Jevil laughed proudly, “How was that, that, Seam?”

“Pretty good,” the magician complimented, “but try and match this!” Past-Seam twirled, the shimmering water spinning around him. He raised his paw to the sky, the liquid rocketing up and forming into a glorious mermaid. The water-mermaid took a nose dive before condensing back into a large ball of water. He spun the water ball around, several smaller ones separating into it and molding themselves into different animals. Past-Seam waved his paw around, the water animals merging once more. The water-whip dunked itself back into the Sparkling Water River. Past-Jevil cheered and applauded his friend's feat.

 

Past-Seam bowed, “Thank you, I'll be here all day!”

“You'll be super, super proud of me, Seam! I've been reading through those old, old magic spell books of yours and picked up on some of the tricks!”

“That's great, Jevil, but uh...Leave most of the magic to the _actual_ magician,” Past-Seam remarked.

“Oh fooie!” Past-Jevil waved his arm in protest, “Who cares about the roles, roles? As long as it's in good fun, fun, what's the harm?”

“I care, Jevil,” Past-Seam said, waving his hands around the control the water.

“You know what, what, Seamy? I'll demonstrate a spell, spell right now!” Past-Jevil rolled up his sleeves and aimed his hand at a tree.

“Huh?” the cat watched the imp. Past-Jevil shot a magical beam at the nearby tree, and it reduced itself until it was just a sapling.

Past-Seam looked on in surprise, “That's...Actually really impressive, Jevil.”

“Of course, course it is! After all I can do whatever I put my mind to!” he boasted.

“Well I'm proud that you're more confident in yourself, Jev,” he patted him on the shoulder.

 

Past-Jevil laughed his signature laugh, and continued to turn local plant life back into saplings and sprouts. Past-Seam didn't think much of it. He rose another water pillar up with his magic, shaping it into all different kinds of forms.

 

Past-Jevil paused and gazed up on the water, “Hm...” The goblin pointed his finger at the water pillar, curious of what “young water” looks like. He shot a small, concentrated beam at the water, only for it to bounce right off of it and striking Past-Seam right in the face! The screen glitches and turns black.

“Mmm...” Seam growled.

“What happened?” Lancer asked.

“Like I said, it's all fuzzy for me.” He shut his eyes and focused on his thoughts. The screen lights up again, catching the boy's attention.

 

Muffled voices spoke out, the young cat barely able to hear from inside his friend's jester hat. He pawed at the fabric, meowing lowly.

“What's that...” he couldn't make out the rest of the sentence. He heard panicked noises and the bells on Past-Jevil's hat ringing. The hat slowly gets lifted off of Past-Jevil's head, Past-Seam pawing at Jevil's luscious hair. The small kitten gazed upon the appalled and shocked royals.

Past-Jevil trembled in fear, “H-He got a l-lot younger, your majesties.” King of Spades, Clubs, Hearts, Diamonds, and an intensely scribbled and scratched out figure stared at him in fright.

 

“W-Wh?!” Lancer stuttered, starring at the scribbled out.... _thing_. Seam remained silent, eyes still shut.

 

The scribbled out lines on the figure shook violently, circling and covering up the figure.

“What have you done with our mage?!” shouted Past-King Clubs.

“I-It was a mistake, mistake, I swe-” Past-Jevil was interrupted by Past-King of Spade slamming his foot against the ground.

“You _better_ have our mage back to normal in three days, or it will be your HEAD, FOOL!” he roared. Past-Seam yowled at the monarchs, back hunched up. Past-Jevil held the kitten, petting him on the head.

“He's gone feral,” Past-King of Hearts whimpered.

“Well of course he has, Hearts, he's now just a stupid cat!” Past-Diamonds added. Past-Jevil's expression turned from worry to malice and anger at such cruel words. The scribbled out figure spoke, but it only emit garbled, distorted noises instead of actual words.

 

Lancer shuttered at the disturbing thing. The screen turned black once more. The screen glitched and the memory continued.

Past-Jevil heard a beloved voice, “JEVIL!” His heart dropped as he turned toward the noise. Past-Seam entered the room, wearing a robe.

“What _happened?_ ” he hissed.

“Weeeeeellllllll I may or may not have turned you into a kid, tried using the same spell on you again trying to hope to turn you back but only turned you younger, got in trouble by the monarchs and was nearly executed.”

Past-Seam stared at him, giving him a look of dismay, confusion, anger, and other mixed emotions. “ _What?_ ”

“I'm sorry, sorry, Seamy! I got carried, carried away and I didn't mean to make everything, worse, worse!” Past-Jevil cried out. Past-Seam bitterly glared at his distressed friend, but finally caved in. He hugged his friend close, calming him down.

“I'll calm the monarchs down in a little bit, just give me a while to recollect my thoughts and take everything in,” he sighed.

 

The screen went black once more. Lancer sat there, staring off into nothing. “Seam, what was-”

“I don't want to talk about it,” he stated.

“Right...I'm gonna go now, I have some stuff to do and...Things,” he misdirected.

Seam nodded his head solemnly, watching the boy clean up and leave.

He huffed lowly and continued to repair his pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OKAY GUYS!  
> Hello everyone and welcome back to Hidden Basement! I'm sorry that I haven't posted for a while, but the last 2 months have been INCREDIBLY hectic and the charger for my laptop died. But today I've got a brand new charger and I finished chapter 15 on it today! I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and Ily all! <3


	16. 23 4 7 1 19 20 5 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ❄︎♒︎♏︎ ⍓︎□︎◆︎■︎♑︎ ◻︎❒︎♓︎■︎♍︎♏︎ ♏︎⌧︎◻︎♏︎❒︎♓︎♏︎■︎♍︎♏︎⬧︎ ♋︎ ■︎♓︎♑︎♒︎⧫︎❍︎♋︎❒︎♏︎

The little boy shivered and quaked. He opened his dark eyes and witnessed nothing but pitch black darkness. All he heard was distant and cold howling winds. Dread and fear washed over him, eyes wide in fright. He looked down and saw there was no ground, only darkness. Somehow, he was able to stand on nothing.

He trudged on forward, “H-Hello? Anyone?” His footsteps echoed throughout the darkness. _Where am I?_ he thought. As he continued forward, the howling wind only became louder and louder.

In the near distance, he could vaguely make out someone standing by itself. He gasped and ran at the creature.

“Hey!” he screamed, “Hey you! Where are we, who are y-” He stopped in front of the figure. The creature turned around slowly, her footsteps echoing as well. Lancer gasped, backing up. The scribbled out woman stared down on him, remaining silent.

“W-Who...” he gasped quietly, now realizing what he is beholding. “Seam's m-..” Lancer shut his mouth as soon as the creature tried to make a sound. The sound the creature made was hoarse and distorted.

“L...Lan-..” the scratched out creature extended out her scribbled hand. Lancer quivered, hunching over a bit in attempt to protect himself. The creature seized violently, part of her body barely showing through the throbbing, messy scribbled lines. He noticed that she was wearing something pink, but that was about it from the mess of a creature he was staring at.

“M...Y..” she struggled to even speak, as if she was being choked.

“Your? Your what?” Lancer stepped forward and reached out to the creature.

He was caught off by screeching, glitchy sounds that was being emitted from behind the Darkner. A gigantic, white, skeletal hand reached out from the Void behind her and gripped her tightly. Lancer screamed in fear, the scribbled out mess struggling against the skeleton's grip.

“L...AN-” she attempted to shout, before she was pulled into the darkness.

“NO!” he shrieked, running after her. It was too late, there was nothing but darkness again. Despite this, he kept running.

“NO! PLEASE! COME BACK!” he cried out. The solid black ground cracked underneath him.

“Oh crap!” he yelled, jumping back. The floor shattered to pieces right under his feet, and he plummeted into the Void, screaming in despair.

He gasped and sat up in his bed in a cold sweat. He gripped his chest, looking down at himself and staring at his pink pajamas. He exhaled heavily, flopping back in defeat. He froze in fear, his eyes glued on what was on his ceiling. A huge, black and white goopy mass was sticking to it. It shifted and squirmed disgustingly, pulsating and breathing. He attempted to scream and fight, but he was paralyzed. The sticky, horrid substance dripped all over the unfortunate boy. The mass reached down further and further, consuming his entire body. He managed to cry out for help before he was swallowed fully by the monstrous slime.

He gasped noisily, now understanding what he experienced was completely fictitious. He observed his surroundings, only to find out he was back in the Void once again.

“Are you KIDDING me?!” he screeched. Rising up again, he marched onward. This time there was no annoying loud wind, no sounds at all. Even his footsteps were silent. A shiver went down his spine, the area suddenly turning ice cold. He turned around, the feeling of being stalked overwhelming him. There was nothing but darkness. He whimpered and continued to walk. He paused and listened to a far away noise. Laughter. Familiar laughter. Without hesitating, he sprinted to the source of the noise. The sound abruptly ended. He searched the empty black area, determined to find _something._ He halted and studied a recognizable silhouette.

“Jevil!” he yelled, running over to him. “Oh my God, Uncle Jevil! You can't believe what I-.” “Jevil” spun his head 180 degrees, greeting the frightened boy with a hollow, terrifying smile. His skin was gray and his clothes were black and white. The stunned boy staggered back.

“J-Jevil?” he tried not to weep, voice breaking. Tears welled up in his eyes, and he blinked them away. “Jevil” wasn't there anymore. He jumped in shock, and tried to summon spade attacks to protect himself. He stared at his hands and there were no spades hovering over them. _Great, my powers don't work and I'm trapped with a crazy fake uncle_ he thought.

“Jevil's” deafening cackling and mocking giggles reverberated throughout the Void. Lancer was forced to listen to the laughter turn to hysterical and unwavering sobs and wailing. The laughter, mixed with rambunctious weeps and cries brought Lancer to his knees. Lancer covered his ears, trying to ignore the terrible sounds.

“La la la la la la la!!” the puppy screamed, desperately trying to drown out the crazy noises.

He uncovered his ears as he heard the terrible commotion stop. He gulped, sweating bullets. His vision was blurred, too dizzy to look straight. He hit himself on top of his head to snap himself out of it. He sighed and trekked on. _Is this Hell dad always talks about?_ he thought.

The prince witnessed another, hunched over, person.

“Dad!” he cried out in relief, “Daddy! Father, Father oh my gosh I!-” He hugged his father, unable to finish his sentence due to his weeping. He gazed upon his father, teary eyed. His heart sank as he detected the lack of color on his “father”. Another hollow smile the boy witnessed. He was clinging onto the faker's black and white clothes. The man's words were garbled, Lancer couldn't move. He felt intense grief and anger radiating all over the place. Lancer pried his hands off of this new imposter, staggering back. His father's voice echoed and reiterated, “NO!” Lancer tugged on his own ears, whining and yelling in a vain attempt to “out-scream” his phony father.

The same skeletal, droopy hand extended outward from the darkness. Lancer squealed in protest and pulled his paws away from his ears. He charged after the hand, but it took hold of the imposter. Lancer jumped forward and grabbed onto the fake King's cape. The hand pulled them inside the darkness at insane speeds! He felt the very being of this imitation Spades crumble. Lancer gripped tightly onto him, climbing up to reach his face. The copy King completely faded away before the child could reach him.

He plunged down into the depths, yelling in panic. Lancer crashed against the cold, hard floor roughly. “Agh!” he yelped. He groaned and sat up, rubbing his arm. He sensed a menacing, dangerous presence. His fur stood on end, his heart pounding. Two white glowing pupils appeared a few feet away from him. Lancer swallowed hard, getting up onto his feet. The illuminating pupils rose up, distorted and glitchy sounds being spoken. Lancer followed the pupils, feet firmly planted on the ground. Several odd symbols formed in the air, the glitching noises reading them out. Lancer was unable to decipher anything. Lines of weird symbols appeared, some being simple shapes and some being hands.

A white, goopy face formed around the pupils. A solid black, wide, hollow smile taking up the lower half of his face. His pupils rested in his blackened eye sockets, the rest of his ghastly, sticky body assembling. Lancer felt a sharp pain through his chest, and he was pulled to the sky. Lancer coughed up dust and groaned, struggling against the monster's grasp. The Knight reached out his hand toward Lancer, his smile widening. Lancer tried to call for help, but it felt like he was being strangled. The Knight plunged his hand straight through Lancer's chest at incredible speeds.

Lancer screamed, falling out of his bed and falling face first onto the ground. Rouxls Kaard dashed inside the room, “Lancer?!” Lancer shot up from the ground, summoning a spade.

“How do I know you're not a faker!?”

“What are thee talking about, Lancer? What happenede?” Rouxls walked over to him.

Lancer backed up until he was cornered against bed, “I-I'm warning you!”

“Lancer!” Rouxls crouched down in front of him and grabbed his wrists. Lancer howled in fright, but Rouxls held him close.

“Lancer, did thou exeperienced a grim dream?” he stroked he back of the shivering prince's head.

“Y-Yeah, it w-was super scary,” he lamented.

“Oh Deare, 'twas just a nightmare,” Rouxls sighed.

Lancer wiped the tears away from his eyes, “Why are you up?”

“I was aboute to sleepeth, but I remembered that I forgoteth to locke up my shop.” explained Kaard. “Hm, how about thee and I go grab a snack from there?”

“Really?” sniffled Lancer.

“Yes, and I shan't tell thine father about this,” he stood up and held Lancer's hand.

“Promise?” he asked.

“Yes, yes, I promise,” Rouxls swore. Lancer smiled happily, and they exited his room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ☹ □︎■︎♏︎●︎✡ ✌■︎👎 ☺♋︎♎︎♏︎👎 😐♓︎■︎☝ ♦♓︎⧫︎☟ ✌●︎☹ ♦♋︎●︎●︎💧 ✞◘  
> ☹ ♏︎♋︎❖︎♏︎💧 ☟♓︎💧 💧□︎☠ ✌💧 ✌ 👍□︎■︎♐︎◆︎⬧︎♏︎👎 ☹ ♓︎⧫︎⧫︎●︎☜ ◘◆︎◘  
> 👎♏︎❍︎♏︎■︎⧫︎♏︎👎 ☹ ♓︎⧫︎⧫︎●︎☜ 👎♏︎❍︎□︎☠ ✌●︎☹ ☹ □︎♍︎🙵♏︎👎 ✌⬥︎♋︎✡  
> ✌■︎👎 ❄♒︎☜ 👍◆︎❒︎♓︎□︎◆︎💧 ◘◆︎◘ 💧♒︎♋︎●︎☹ ☞♋︎●︎☹ ◘❒︎♏︎✡

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfic I've ever made, so go easy on me. I hope you'll all enjoy this. Also join the Jeam Cult on Discord if you ship the crazy gremlin and the old magic cat!


End file.
